Canada’s First Compound Fertilizer Manufacturing Facility to Supply Domestic, Export Markets

Jun 16, 2023

MAITLAND — Vanguard Crop Nutrition Inc. (VCN Canada) has begun construction on a first-of-its-kind compound fertilizer manufacturing facility in Maitland, Ontario. “There is no better time than now to build and safeguard Canada’s manufacturing and supply of next-generation crop nutrition solutions,” said Ryan Brophy, VCN Canada’s CEO.

VCN Canada will onshore the manufacturing of multi-nutrient compound fertilizers, previously made in Eastern Europe and imported to Canada and the Americas. The site will begin production of already commercially available compound fertilizers ELEVEN Superstart, and soon-to-be-launched Soy7 MAX and Pulse8.

“Supply chain disruptions and recent offshore production quality are serious issues for farmers on this side of the Atlantic, and VCN Canada will help correct that,” said Brophy. Equally important, he explains, is the fact that VCN Canada will manufacture compound fertilizers designed to enhance soil health, capture carbon, and reduce product waste. “A win-win-win for producers, people and the planet.”

One of the benefits of compound fertilizers is that each granule contains a balance of nutrients that increases efficiency, reduces product waste, and minimizes nutrient loss. “This is something that conventional blended fertilizers simply cannot do,” said Brophy.

VCN Canada will focus on regenerative agriculture and on-farm climate change mitigation. The manufacturing processes will allow VCN Canada to admix mineral and organic components with conventional ingredients to achieve remineralization, carbon dioxide removal (via enhanced rock weathering), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions reductions.

The manufacturing site, strategically located beside the St. Lawrence Seaway, Highway 401, and mainline rail, will open in 2024 with a 25 MT/hr production capacity. The project will provide local and indirect jobs throughout the construction phase and continuing through to ongoing manufacturing, logistics, and distribution.

“It’s an exciting day and time for farmers across Canada and the Americas,” said Brophy. “This is the first step to providing a secure supply of fertilizers developed to improve food security and make tangible in-soil contributions to fighting climate change.”

Source : Farmersforum

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.