Sustainable agriculture is a much talked about trend right now and Agrotain International has a product that can help a farmer be profitable and sustainable at the same time – the Agrotain line of products. Micheal Stegmann, President of the company, explained to me during the AG CONNECT Expo what Agrotain does and why it is both economical and sustainable.
Agrotain is a product to be used with urea fertilizer. “Urea is a really great product for farmers to be using because it’s safe and abundant and it’s relatively inexpensive,” said Stegmann. “But it’s got a problem and that problem is when its applied to the surface, part of it is lost back into the environment.” A third actually. Stegmann continued, “When that loss occurs it’s not only an economic loss to the grower but also represents an environmental issue.”
Agrotain is not crop specific and can be used with any urea fertilizer. It is actually added to the fertilizer by the dealer and then the farmer applies the product as usual. The benefit to the grower is that it makes the urea more efficient and is a lot less expensive to use than the cost of the loss of nitrogen.
The company is a big believer in sustainability needing to be a big part of their future of agriculture. However, Stegmann notes that sustainability means different things to different people. “In my opinion, sustainable means a way to endure that reconciles the needs of society, the needs of the environment and economic needs as well.” He stresses the importance of the general public in understanding that farming is a business and needs to make a profit. “If we’re going to meet the growing demands and if we’re going to do it in a way that is satisfactory to the public, we have to be able to make money in the process.”
He concludes that regulations or rules or pactices that prevent the industry from being profitable are also going to prevent it from doing the things the public wants them to do — feed the world.
Listen to my interview with Michael below.
AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album
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You might remember last week’s post about the Mt. Ranier Relay Race that AdFarm and their client AGROTAIN were participating in. I received a photo and update from Jason Streubel who was on the team. He’s a soil science PhD student at Washington State University. He says their team won their division! Jason is also a blogger and you’ll find him at Tales From a Poopsmith. Here’s an excerpt from his post about the race.
So equipped with some courage and apprehension I drove to Seattle to meet my team for the first time. One by one I was introduced to “Nine Hot Guys and Two Really Lucky Women” from AGROTAIN (a vital component to putting quality food on your table every day in an environmentally sound manner), AdFarm (the ad wizards who can make fertilizer and manure look attractive) and Dave (the DCLS rep who rallies for common sense on the hill).
No forum on world food security issues would be complete without a session on climate change and that was how the World Ag Congress concluded its roundtable discussions Wednesday.
While the issue may be debatable, there is no question that agriculture should be taking every opportunity to decrease greenhouse gas emissions – including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Panalist Jerry Hatfield with USDA’s National Soil Tilth Laboratory talked about how nitrogen stabilizers can make a major difference in nitrous oxide emitted from the application of nitrogen fertilizer. “Nitrous oxide is 320 times more powerful than CO2, so one molecule of nitrous oxide saved is like saving 320 carbon dioxide,” Jerry said. “So we can have a major impact on total greenhouse gas emissions by reducing nitrous oxide.”
Jerry told me that USDA-ARS has found that the use of stabilized nitrogen not only reduces emissions of nitrous oxide, but it is also better for plants because it makes nitrogen more available later in the season when the plant really needs it. “So, its a win-win – a win for the plant and a win for the environment simultaneously,” he said.
He says nitrogen stabilizers are readily available in various forms for farmers from companies like Dow and AGROTAIN.
You can listen to my interview with Jerry here:
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Download the interview here: Jerry Hatfield
Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum
AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
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It should be no surprise that sustainability is the most often used word here at the World Agricultural Forum’s World Ag Congress in St. Louis since the agriculture industry as a whole remains under the microscope when it comes to environmental issues.
Another company making a difference in that arena is St. Louis-based AGROTAIN International and I talked with president Mike Stegmann today about some of the ways they are helping. “Sustainability means different things to different people but at AGROTAIN International we’re talking a look at fertilizer specifically,” Mike said. “We truly believe there’s ways to use fertilizer, be more efficient, get more, cost less and still do the right thing for the environment.” AGROTAIN is the world’s largest producer of StabilizedNitrogen™ fertilizers.
Along those lines, AGROTAIN has been participating in a study with USDA’s Agriculture Research Service on the impact of nitrogen fertilizer on climate change. “We wanted to understand what the climate change benefit is of using a product like AGROTAIN to using conventional fertilizer or no fertilizer at all,” Mike says.
In fact, the study has found there is a dramatic reduction in nitrous oxide emissions when nitrogen fertilizer is applied with AGROTAIN. More on that will be revealed tomorrow here at the Congress by Jerry Hatfield with USDA’s National Soil Tilth Research Laboratory.
You can listen to my interview with Mike here:
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Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum
AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
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The readers of No-Till Farmer magazine voted on the products that performed best in their no-till operations in 2008 – and the “No-Till Product of the Year” winner is – Headline fungicide from BASF.
No-till products in 11 specific categories were also selected as the best of their field for 2008. Each of the products and their manufacturers were honored during an awards ceremony last week at the 17th annual National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis. Other winners were:
No-Till Equipment: Early Riser Planters, Case IH
Planter/Drill Attachments: Martin Row Cleaners, Martin Industries
Strip-Till Equipment: Blu-Jet StripTill System, Thurston Manufacturing
Spray Equipment: AGCO Spra-Coupe 7000 Series, AGCO
Residue Management: The Spreader, The Spreader Inc.
Fertility: Agrotain, Agrotain International
Insect Protection: YieldGard VT Triple, Monsanto
Fungicides: Headline, BASF
Seed Treatment: Cruiser, Syngenta Seed Care
Precision Tools: RTK AutoSteer, AutoFarm
Weed Control: Roundup PowerMax, Monsanto
Another new exhibitor at NAFB Trade Talk this year was AGROTAIN International. You might remember us covering the grand opening of their new stabilized nitrogen production facility and urea storage center in St. Louis a couple of months ago.
I talked with president Mike Stegmann at NAFB about how the new facility is doing and just what they have to offer the agriculture industry. “I’m real excited about the state of agriculture right now,” Mike said. “I know that we can look forward to seeing a bit of a rocky path but agriculture is an exciting place to be. We know we have to continue to do a better job environmentally and Agrotain provides a great environmental benefit.”
Listen to my interview with Mike here:
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“Rolling on the River” was the theme of the grand opening event this week in St. Louis of AGROTAIN International/Lange-Stegmann’s new stabilized nitrogen production facility and urea storage center. To drive that home, they even had a Tina Turner look-alike to kick off the celebration, which also featured a riverboat themed luncheon.
This company is most definitely on a roll that has a global focus and the river is their highway to the world. Vice President of Global Marketing Jeff Whetstine says they are selling AGROTAIN technology in 68 different countries. “We started here in the United States, expanded to South America and now we’re going around the world,” Jeff says. “It was a regional fertilizer company up until the year 2000 when Lange-Stegmann purchased the AGROTAIN technology and started AGROTAIN International, their subsidiary.”
Jeff says they anticipate rapid growth with the expansion. “Frankly, we’ve had trouble keeping up with the demand for our product and that’s why this stabilized nitrogen center is so important,” he said. “And the Urea Center will help us with the efficiency of bringing urea from around the world to the farmers in the heartland of America and into Canada.”
And that is why the location on the Mississippi River is so strategic for the company. “It’s been a very fortunate thing that we’ve had this location and we are exploiting the advantages of it,” Jeff concluded.
Listen to an interview with Jeff here:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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Several members of the Stegmann family are actively involved in the operation of Lange-Stegmann and AGROTAIN International, following in the footsteps of grandfather Henry Lange who started the company with his brother, and father Rich Stegmann who serves as chairman of the company. Rick Stegmann is Operations Manager for the new granulation production facility and urea storage warehouse that opened this week in St. Louis.
Rick explained the river station barge unloading operation portion of the facility. “The majority of urea comes in from New Orleans by barge and St. Louis is the northernmost lock-free, ice-free port on the Mississippi River,” he said. “And so we are able to bring barges up and off load them either into storage, into truck or into rail.”
The operation is extremely efficient, handling in excess of 500 tons an hour. “We can do four barges a day, a barge is average of 1500 tons, so that’s 6,000 tons in 24 hours,” Rick said.
Rick says the new facility is the future of Lange-Stegmann and AGROTAIN International. He attributes the success and longevity of the company to the core values that his grandfather and father instilled in not only the family members involved in the business, but also the rest of the employees, who are treated like family.
Listen to an interview with Rick Stegmann here:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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Media got the first look at the Allen R. Sutton Stabilized Nitrogen Center prior to the official grand opening on Tuesday in St. Louis and our tour guide was Dan Kuttenkuler, project manager for Lange-Stegmann and AGROTAIN International.
Dan explained how the center uses a falling curtain granulation process for quality control and production efficiency. The process allows finished products to be manufactured to a specific size for different markets. “By varying the size of the holes in the screens we are able to control the final size of the product,” Dan says. “We have an agricultural market which is used to grow corn, wheat and cotton, we have a turf and ornamental and we also serve the golf industry which is very specific in terms of types and height of grasses.”
The Center is designed to meet the increasing demand for stabilized nitrogen fertilizer, with a production capacity of 125,000 tons annually.
Listen to an interview with Dan here:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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The statistics for the new Richard W. Stegmann St. Louis Urea Center are pretty amazing.
Lange-Stegmann Director of Operations Rich Diffley says the facility has a capacity for 63,000 tons in 15 bins, ranging from 800 to 20,000 tons, which can be turned four times a month. “We can unload barges in approximately five hours, we can load truckloads in approximately six minutes and we can load a full rail car in approximately 17 minutes,” Rich says. “It allows us the ability to load a full unit train up to 80 rail cars within a 24 hour period.” That’s about a million tons a year, if you do the math.
Diffley explained that the fully automated system makes it the most efficient way to move large volumes of urea quickly and easily.
Diffley showed the media through the storage facility prior to the AGROTAIN International grand opening on Tuesday and impressed us with the mountains of urea in the bins. This photo shows the largest bin – at 20,000 tons – from above. It was maybe a third full and just looked like a pile of freshly plowed snow. Check out the photo album for more shots of the nation’s largest urea import terminal.
Listen to an interview with Rich Diffley here, conducted by myself and Tom Steever with Brownfield Network:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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When Lange-Stegmann acquired AGROTAIN eight years ago with that acquisition came Allen Sutton, vice president of business and product development. You could say the Stabilized Nitrogen Center that opened in St. Louis Tuesday was his brain child. Because of that, it will now bear his name – the Allen R. Sutton Stabilized Nitrogen Center.
Making that announcement, Lange-Stegmann president Mike Stegmann explained that five years ago he asked Allen to find a way for customers to make their SuperU product at their own locations. “After a little while, he came back and said ‘I don’t think there is a way, but I found something better’ and that something was the stabilized nitrogen center that you see here today,” Mike said. They made the decision to name the center after Allen because of his “commitment and dedication to the technology, the company and the industry as a whole.”
Allen’s enthusiasm and excitement for the fertilizer industry was evident when he talked to the media prior to the opening ceremony and proudly displayed and discussed the company and products they offer for the agriculture, turf and ornamental and golf course industries.
Listen to an interview with Allen here:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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The brand new urea center in St. Louis received its official name at the grand opening ceremony on Tuesday – the Richard W. Stegmann St. Louis Urea Center.
Lange-Stegmann president Mike Stegmann (left) surprised his father Rich, who is chairman of the company, by naming the center after him. “It was really humbling,” Rich said in an interview after the ceremony.
Lange-Stegmann, the parent company of AGROTAIN International, was started in 1926 by Rich’s father-in-law Henry Lange and his brother Dewey. “At that time, it was meat scraps and tankage and steam bone meal that was fertilizer,” said Rich.
The reason the plant was first located at the site near the Mississippi River was because it was next to the stockyards. “At that time a lot of livestock moved by rail and they had to unload it every 24 hours,” Rich explained. “People would come in with trucks and they would haul back fertilizer.”
Stegmann celebrates his 48th year with the company on Friday and he is proud that this global corporation is still very much family-owned. “And our employees are like family too,” Stegmann says. “And that is very gratifying.” A whole line of family, friends, employees and business associates lined up to cut the ribbon opening the urea center and the adjacent Stabilized Nitogen Center.
Listen to an interview with Rich here:
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AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
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AGROTAIN International and parent company Lange-Stegmann today celebrated the grand opening of a $20 million expansion project in St. Louis.
The Stabilized Nitrogen Center and the St. Louis Urea Center represent the country’s first urea plant using phase modification and the nation’s largest inland urea import terminal – or as one AGROTAIN official called the project, a “Cathedral to Fertilizer.”
The grand opening was a glorious event and I have lots of interviews to share later when I get back to home base. Meanwhile, enjoy the photos – I took a bunch of them!
AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album
Early next week AGROTAIN International, a division of Lange-Stegmann Company, will be holding a special grand opening event of new facilities in St. Louis and they want you to know that you’re invited to come on out. We had reporter Mike Rogers talk with Mike Stegmann, President, Lange-Stegmann, about the new facility and their grand opening.
Listen to his interview with Mike here:
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You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).
Introducing the St. Louis Urea Center and Stabilized Nitrogen Center – Built to Meet the Growing Demand for Imported Urea Every year
North America’s fertilizer market is increasing their reliance on imported urea. This reliance has caused Lange-Stegmann to step up and meet the challenge of providing high quality urea at reliable fast lead times. Another situation facing the world is finding a reliable and stable nitrogen source. AGROTAIN International is answering that challenge with its new Stabilized Nitrogen Center. This September, Lange-Stegmann will open the nation’s first and largest inland urea import terminal and AGROTAIN International will open the nation’s first urea manufacturing plant using phase modification.
For more information on the event and how to attend, go to www.UreaCenterTour.com.
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It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
