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    Cargill opens Uruguay fertilizer blending facility

    Written by Natalie Noor-Drugan


    Cargill has inaugurated a fertilizer plant at its Nueva Palmira operation in Uruguay, adding capacity for fertilizer preparation and dispatch, precision blends and plant-nutrition products for Uruguayan farmers.

    The company said the investment is designed to strengthen operational safety, expand capacity and improve the products and services it provides to crop growers. It did not disclose the plant’s investment value or production capacity.

    “This investment is part of our long-term vision to continue being a reliable partner for Uruguayan producers,” said Gabriel Di Giovannantonio, president of Cargill Uruguay. “We seek to accompany the evolution of agriculture with increasingly efficient, innovative solutions adapted to the needs of our customers.”

    Plant adds tailored blending capacity

    The Nueva Palmira facility incorporates new infrastructure, processes and technology intended to support a safer, more efficient and reliable operation, Cargill said.

    Additional capacity is expected to optimise fertilizer preparation and dispatch. Cargill said this will enable it to respond more quickly to farmers’ needs during increasingly demanding application windows.

    The plant can produce more precise fertilizer mixtures and expands Cargill’s plant-nutrition offer to include micronutrients and technologies intended to tailor recommendations to individual crops and production systems.

    “Agriculture is evolving towards increasingly precise and efficient systems,” said Felipe González, crop inputs product line manager at Cargill Uruguay. “This investment allows us to accompany this transformation with greater service capacity, more precise mixtures and new plant nutrition tools that help producers optimise the use of resources and maximise the potential of their crops.”

    US-headquartered, family-owned agribusiness Cargill has operated in Uruguay since 2005, sourcing, storing, handling and marketing cereals and oilseeds, while supplying crop inputs and financing to farmers.

    The inauguration was held during a customer and farmer event. It included a presentation on international fertilizer-market trends by Zacarías Ruiz Moreno, fertilizers director for Cargill Ag & Trading Latin America, and a technical session on protectors and micronutrients by Federico Pieroni of ProNutrition.

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