Another farm chemical name with deep roots in Australian agriculture will fade into history in August when CropCare products are absorbed into the Nufarm brand.
Chemical maker, Nufarm Australia, is set to merge its Nufarm and CropCare sales teams into one business, also integrating the CropCare chemical range under the Nufarm brand.
The Melbourne-based manufacturer has owned the CropCare business since 2002.
The full merger of the two comes as big chemical names Monsanto and Bayer, Dow and DuPont and Syngenta and ChemChina are all in merger moves.
CropCare products, which have long been largely made by Nufarm, are distributed through the same distribution network.
Although made by the same company the two brands have different chemical product lines, with their only common formulation being glyphosate.
CropCare has been part of the farming landscape since 1993 when it was established as a simplified local brand for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Agro Chemicals.
In 2000 the business was sold jointly to fertiliser business Incitec Pivot and chemical maker Orica when UK-based ICI became part of Novartis.
Two years later it was bought by Nufarm.
The CropCare name has been a launch pad for many agronomists and agribusiness sales representative careers, locally and internationally.
Elders managing director, Mark Allison, is a former chief executive officer from the 1990s, and Syngenta’s China president, Andrew Guthrie, began his career at CropCare, as did other overseas Syngenta staff.
Nufarm managing director, Greg Hunt, said the decision to abandon the CropCare name followed customer feedback, and fitted with the company’s commitment to improve and streamline its service in Australia.
“We want to be easy to do business with,” he said.
“We believe a single, focused sales organisation will enable us to better support and partner with our customers to grow their businesses.”
The portfolio offerings of both brands were complementary and could be more efficiently serviced by a single, co-ordinated sales organisation operating under the Nufarm Australia banner.
Rationalisation of Nufarm’s sales organisation follows other big changes made to the business in the past two years, including closing manufacturing plants in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe.
Nufarm’s production efficiencies include a recent $14 million investment at one of its Melbourne production sites at Raymond Road, in Laverton.
Australia and NZ regional general manager, Peter O’Keeffe, said combining Nufarm and Crop Care would create a large, but focused sales team, with stronger territory coverage and the ability to present customers with our full product portfolio.
The existing range of Nufarm and Crop Care products would continue after August 1.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
