AXcess News: Green, or Alternative, Fertilizer Demand Grows on Inflation, Pollution Concern and Shortages
December 13 2007 - 4:01PM
Marketwired
HOUSTON, TX -- An agricultural crisis is brewing in the United
States which is pulling farmers from several directions. Crop
shortfalls are pushing grain prices to record levels while
fertilizer costs, already at record levels, are forecast to rise
even further when the 2008 planting season begins.
The 2007 planting season saw the price of fuel and fertilizer
soar and while this year's grain crops prove to be a windfall when
weighing farm income, the cost to produce those crops is
jeopardizing those farmers' very survival, critics argue.
Environmental concerns are adding to farmers' woes as
groundwater pollution levels rose from nitrate runoff due to more
land being put into corn production last spring, fueled by
exuberance towards ethanol as an alternative fuel. But the new buzz
isn't alternative fuel, but alternative, or green, fertilizer and
few manufacturers are prepared to fill it. Enter, Itronics, Inc.
(OTCBB: ITRO), a Reno, Nevada-based maker of green fertilizer made
entirely from recycled photochemicals.
While you might smirk in thinking that a tiny maker of green
fertilizers in Reno could ever hope to meet farmers' demands for an
alternative fertilizer by recycling photochemicals, Itronics'
founder Dr. John Whitney says the company is only using about 0.25%
of the nation's photochemical waste and that thanks to two new
processes recently announced, Itronics can manufacture its line of
GOLD'n GRO liquid fertilizers using non-photographic source
materials. Whitney also said the company has taken production
capacity up 250% in preparation for the 2008 planting season.
Itronics operates the only plant in the United States approved
by the EPA to recycle photochemicals and said in a press release
earlier this week that two processes to recover metals and sulfur
through a leach process were underway that could both supply the
company with non-photochemical resources for manufacturing its line
of green fertilizers while also providing a way for the mining
industry to reduce hazardous waste.
Phosphate costs are rising and just yesterday nitrogen costs
went up. Both phosphates and nitrates are largely used in bulk
fertilizer manufacturing. During the 2007 planting season farmers
saw fertilizer prices climb dramatically and looking forward into
the 2008 growing season, prices could double over 2006 rates.
Dr. Whitney says that as the cost of traditional fertilizer
rises, Itronics' GOLD'n GRO line of alternative liquid fertilizers
are "becoming more economical to use." The company has been doing
all it can in anticipation of meeting a growing demand. Weighing
demand against skyrocketing costs of food production, Itronics'
timing may be ideal.
It's possible that demand in 2008 could outstrip Itronics'
ability to fill orders, though Whitney said in a telephone
interview Thursday that the company's development of its
non-photochemical leach process could more than satisfy Itronics'
future needs. But he also said, "The second half of 2008 will be an
interesting period for Itronics."
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