Nachurs Alpine Solutions: Liquid Fertilizer With Precision Placement
May 4, 2015 
Nachurs Alpine Solutions’ leadership team includes (from left): Bob Ruebel, Business Director, NACHURS Branded Products; Murray Van Zeggelaar, Vice President of Marketing; Becky Worley, Marketing Coordinator; and Jim Krebsbach, Vice President, General Manager of Agriculture.
When it comes to fertilizer options in 2015 and beyond, ag retailers are taking a long, hard look at liquid.
According to CropLife®’s recent Buying Intentions survey, 33% of retailers said they expect to increase their spending on liquid fertilizers this year (compared to 26% who said they planned to increase dry fertilizer spending). This upward trend comes on the heels of 2014, when 17% of retailers estimated they spent more than $10 million on liquid fertilizer.
One company that is helping to fill the liquid fertilizer demand from retailers is Nachurs Alpine Solutions (Nachurs). Founded as The Na-Churs Plant Food Co. in 1946, the company now has six manufacturing facilities: Marion, OH (corporate headquarters); Red Oak, IA; Corydon, IN; St. Gabriel, LA; New Hamburg, Ontario; and Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. Products are sold under the brand name of NACHURS in the U.S. and ALPINE in Canada.
Quality In Every Drop
Nachurs stands firmly behind its tagline: Quality in every drop. It’s a message the company feels resonates strongly with the agricultural market, says Murray Van Zeggelaar, Vice President of Marketing.
“It really is the hallmark of every product we manufacture,” he says. “It’s kind of like McDonald’s. We produce the exact same product every time. McDonald’s is the same way. When you buy a Big Mac in California, it’s going to be exactly the same as a Big Mac in Ohio.”
To help ensure consistent quality with its line of liquid fertilizers, Nachurs has invested heavily over the years in on-site laboratory facilities to test and monitor incoming raw materials, Van Zeggelaar says. Having the latest lab equipment has been especially key to developing and taking to market four new products in 2015: Bio-K, Rhyzo-Link, YaraVita Procote and Aqua-Tech (see “What’s New For 2015”). While each is unique in their function, the new products simply reinforce the many advantages of liquid starter fertilizer.
“Liquid fertilizer gives you flexibility to adjust rates based on soil type and crop,” says Jim Krebsbach, Vice President, General Manager of Agriculture. “You have a seed-safe product that’s generally low in salt, which can be placed with the seed and get the crop off to a good start. NACHURS liquid fertilizer is also very foliar safe. So the same product that’s put in-furrow can be used later in the summer when the crop is growing, and it will not burn the plant while still seeing a good response.”
What’s New For 2015
It’s been a banner year at Nachurs when it comes to new products. The company has aggressively launched four new liquid fertilizer products for 2015. Here’s a quick rundown of each product, according to Van Zeggelaar:
- Bio-K. Designed for all crops that require potassium, Bio-K is an innovative potassium technology. Unlike other forms of potassium, Bio-K is a natural plant metabolite that provides the most efficient nutrient uptake. Using Bio-K technology results in quicker germination, improved root development and an elevated abiotic stress tolerance, which leads to better plant establishment, more vigorous growth and higher yields.
- Rhyzo-Link. Rhyzo-Link solutions are for innovative producers seeking greater nutrient utilization, soil health and plant productivity. This “Bio-Charged” fertilizer with extended microbial activity is designed to provide protection from abiotic and biotic plant stresses which occur throughout the growing season. Rhyzo-Link solutions are a proprietary convergence of a high quality fertilizer with a pure culture, poly-microbial component, while also ensuring a wide range of plant health, plant growth and plant defense mechanisms. Also, the technology used in the product allows it to be in the dormant stage — and stored up to 18 months — until it is mixed in the soil.
- YaraVita Procote. Exclusively available from Nachurs, YaraVita Procote is Yara’s innovative range of liquid oil suspension fertilizer coatings. YaraVita Procote ensures the even distribution of micronutrients on growing crops. Fertilizer blenders will find YaraVita Procote easy to use due to its benefits of significantly reduced dust and losses.YaraVita Procote ensures even micronutrient supply with each fertilizer granule which enhances micronutrient efficiency, crop yield and quality.
- Aqua-Tech. This line of liquid fertilizers is the first on the market specifically designed for irrigation systems. These products are scheduled to be released sometime mid-year 2015.
Building A Network Of Customer Service
With Nachurs’ growing product portfolio, customer service is going to be more important than ever in 2015. That’s one of the reasons the company places a huge emphasis on getting product into the hands of customers — when they need it, Van Zeggelaar says. To help make this happen, Nachurs relies on a talented team of agronomy and sales people, along with an efficient distribution system, to get the job done right.
“Our sales, technical and customer service staff work one-on-one with our clients, ensuring our products arrive on time to the exact specifications requested,” he says.
The Nachurs Alpine Solutions facility in Marion, OH, features more than 2.4 million gallons of storage tank capacity.
In addition to the six manufacturing plants, Nachurs also has strategically positioned more than 40 product depots across North America to ensure close proximity and convenient access to its products for customers and dealers. To keep its manufacturing plants fluid, Nachurs will fill the product depots up at times when the company is not having peak demand, Krebsbach adds.
“That way the terminals are full when the season begins and we have product in country,” he says. “Now instead of a 300-mile drive or more to one of our plants, it’s a three-hour drive or less to one of our terminals. Once the planter hits the ground in the Corn Belt, if the product is not there, we miss the opportunity until next year.”
A Long History In Nutrient Stewardship
The 4Rs of Nutrient Stewardship is a relatively new program within agriculture — at least on paper. The concept of using the right fertilizer source, at the right rate, at the right time and with the right placement has just recently become mainstream thanks to the promotional efforts of the fertilizer industry.
But the concept of the 4Rs is not something new to Nachurs. In fact, the company has been following those stewardship principles since it was founded, Krebsbach says.
“When Nachurs was in its infancy in the late 1940s, the 4Rs were there, but we just didn’t recognize it at that time,” he says. “Nachurs was using the right source of high quality raw materials and our customers were applying them at the right rate based on soil type recommendations. Plus, we would decide on the right time, whether it was placed in-furrow or foliar. There’s no better time to put your fertility down in-furrow then at planting. Finally, if you can put the fertilizer with the seed — which is at the right place — you’re going to get high efficiency and high utilization. And if it’s foliar applied, we would also be at the right place where you’re making contact with that leafy vegetative surface where the plant can utilize it immediately.”
Krebsbach says Nachurs’ history falls right in line with the 4Rs. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t recognize the 4Rs way back then,” he says. “It wasn’t until recently when the whole industry has been really focused on the 4R initiative that we’ve jumped on it.”
Thriving In A Challenging Ag Market
With rising concerns over falling commodity prices and rising crop input costs, farmers are feeling squeezed. And the agriculture forecast for 2015 and beyond paints a less than optimistic picture going forward.
“2015 has been a challenging year with commodity prices down from what they’ve been over the last three to five years,” Krebsbach says. “It’s really slowed decision making at the farm level. What crops are going to get planted? What acreage will there be? What fertility products is that grower going to use? The whole process is really slowed down.”
Despite the current market challenges, Krebsbach says Nachurs is well positioned to respond.
“The key message that we still stand by and really promote — not only to the growers but also to our distributors — is you still have to get that crop off to a good start,” he says. “It all starts with our NPK in-furrow products. If they’re going to have to cut back, we’ll recommend instead of applying 6 gallons that maybe they go down to 5.”
Krebsbach adds that even under difficult market conditions, the farmer still needs output. “He still needs to maximize yield,” he says. “If we start cutting some corners and all of a sudden the yields drop, now not only do they have lower commodities, but they have a lower yield and it’s a hole they can’t get out of.”
For nearly 70 years, Nachurs has produced the same, high quality NPK product that has stood the test of time and helped the company become successful. But Krebsbach says he thinks the company’s new products are coming into the market at the right time, and can help take NACHURS to a new level.
“We’re really looking at the new NACHURS,” he says. “We’ve identified the need to be a little bit different in the marketplace and develop new, innovative products that 10 years ago we probably would have said we still didn’t need at that time. But hats off to our leadership team for identifying that and to our district sales managers for asking the right questions to end users. We feel we can put differentiated products in the marketplace to help growers really become more profitable. That’s the bottom line. So it really is the new era of NACHURS.”
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