AgroPages-Albaugh plans local plant expansion in US-Agricultural news

Albaugh recently broke ground on a 64,750-square-foot building for the production of its line of crop protection liquids, which include the well-known herbicide glyphosate.

The $3.4 million structure is being built to the north of the current campus, which was the location of St. Joseph’s former Seitz meatpacking plant and has office space dating back to the 1930s. Albaugh bought the 8½ acres in 2015. It will join a 38,000-square-foot building already on site. Increased efficiency is the motive behind the new construction.

Owner Dennis Albaugh founded the private company in 1979 and purchased the St. Joseph property in 1992 after buying Agrolinz Inc. the year before. Albaugh, which has corporate headquarters in Ankeny, Iowa, and sales offices across the nation, had only 40 local employees when it started 25 years ago, but it now has nearly 300 on staff. It has become the largest American-based manufacturer and formulator of off-patent agricultural crop protection products.

“We’ll have it completed by the end of the year,” plant manager Paul Oppliger said of the building. “We’re not anticipating a whole lot right now,” he added of any possible boost in employment levels related to the new building.

Albaugh’s St. Joseph concern is manufacturing agrochemical products for all of North America, Oppliger said. Some of the bulk shipments go via rail to and from Canada.

“This plant is shipping everywhere from Florida to Saskatoon and points in between,” he said. “Our business is good. We certainly have faith in the future here, to continue to improve. We’re holding our own in a tough economy.”

Only local contractors are involved in the project, which has fallen slightly behind schedule due to the recent wet weather.

John Froehlich, Albaugh’s vice president for global manufacturing, said the firm is pleased to be part of St. Joseph’s industrial landscape.

“The South End has really grown over the many years we’ve operated here ... and seen some serious development,” he said. “We’re excited to grow with St. Joseph.”

The company completed a $40 million plant improvement in 2006.