Farmer investment in fertilizer plant sought

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Farmers of North America (FNA) is giving farmers an opportunity to invest in the development of a nitrogen fertilizer plant to be located in Western Canada.

FNA spokesperson Bob Friesen says they are going to farmers for seed money to finish project development and then they will be raising equity capital for the project.

Friesen says FNA research indicates farmers are looking for an opportunity to invest in a fertilizer plant like the one they are proposing.

It will be two weeks, Friesen says, before they announce the location of the proposed plant and other details. While the plant is to be built in Western Canada, it is intended to serve the entire Canadian market.

In a news release, FNA says, “The intention of FNA Fertilizer Limited Partnership (FNA FLP) is to connect committed purchase contracts for the products of the fertilizer plant to farmers that will own an equity stake in the plant (which) provides a unique form of stability and risk mitigation to underpin the success of the project, while providing farmers a certainty of supply of a key farm input.

“It needs to be clear that FNA is not talking about getting into the manufacturing business itself,” Friesen is quoted as saying in the release. “Rather, as we have done in the past, we are organizing and providing the catalyst to see a fertilizer plant built. Participation in fertilizer manufacturing will allow farmers to capture more of the value chain.”

FNA is headquartered in Saskatoon. Its membership – 10,000 across Canada – is entirely made up of  farmers. BF