Morton Fertilizer, which encompasses D&B Morton Fertilizer Service, Inc. of Bureau County, IL and Du-Mor Crop Care, Inc. of Clinton County, IA, will immediately become part of the Brandt organization, strengthening the company’s commitment to Central Illinois while providing Brandt’s first outlet in Iowa.

“We welcome Morton Fertilizer to the BRANDT family,”

said Rick Brandt, CEO & President of Brandt.

“Gary Morton and his team at Morton Fertilizer share our values, putting agronomic service and trusted advice first. A family business, they were even founded the same year as Brandt: 1953.”

The acquisition of Morton Fertilizer fits Brandt’s aggressive corporate strategy of providing superior agronomic advice and services to Illinois growers. The combined company has 27 retail locations throughout central Illinois and one location in Iowa. Brandt serves more than one million acres of production farmland, offering a broad range of services, including plant nutrients, crop protection products, precision Ag, seeds, and custom application.

Morton Fertilizer will be integrated into the Brandt Agronomic Services operating company, under the leadership of Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President Tim McArdle and Vice President John Allen.

“We have been working on this transaction for more than five years. It took patience, tenacity and vision to get it done,”

said McArdle.

“I want to thank Gary for sticking with us and recognizing that together we can provide world class services and trusted advice to his legacy customers. That’s what he built his business on and we are committed to carrying that forward.”

Gary Morton, owner of Morton Fertilizer, and his seven full-time employees will become members of Team Brandt immediately. Morton will remain with Brandt as manager of the Brandt Wyanet location, providing operations management and key account leadership. Mark Jacobs, the current manager of Grand Mound, IA, will continue on as the Brandt Grand Mound plant manager.

“I’m excited that we now have certainty for the future with a company that shares our founding philosophy,”

said Morton.

“Our whole team is thrilled to be part of the Brandt organization, as now we can provide an even higher level of customer care. But the real winners are our customers. Brandt Agronomic Services provides the best advice in the business and offers world-class input products. We know: We have been proud to carry Brandt Smart Trio for years.”

Morton Fertilizer was founded in 1953 by Don Morton. He purchased the Iowa location in 1977, beginning operation in the fall of 1977.

“This is an important move for Brandt, representing our first retail foray into Iowa,”

said Rick Brandt.

“We are committed to advancing the business that Gary’s father founded and to taking care of the Morton team. Together we will continue to deliver for our customers and build on this terrific business.”

Source: Brandt

The post Brandt Acquires Retail Agronomy Company appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

As Head of Sustainability, he is responsible since April 1, 2020 for the strategic direction and worldwide steering of all sustainability projects, and in this role reports directly to Christian Kötz, Head of the Tire business area and Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG.

Claus Petschick has worked at Continental for over 30 years, initially holding various positions in R&D and product development for the original equipment (OE) business before assuming the management of the tire plant in Hanover-Stöcken in 2007. Most recently, the 58-year-old construction engineer was responsible for global quality assurance within the tire sector as Vice President Quality Management for over ten years.

“We are underscoring our commitment to sustainable business models and innovative products and services along the entire value chain.”

– Christian Koetz, Head of Tires Business Area and Executive Board Member.

“With the creation of a dedicated sustainability organization under the leadership of Claus Petschick, we are consolidating our far-reaching activities and research projects and underscoring our commitment to further systematic expansion of sustainable business models and innovative products and services along the entire value chain,”

explains Christian Kötz, Head of the Tires business area and member of the Executive Board of Continental AG.

“We are confident that sustainable and responsible management enhances our capacity for innovation and our future viability, and that we can make an important contribution to society and toward shaping our future through our commitment.”

For many years, sustainable and responsible management has been an integral part of Continental’s corporate strategy and development. The focus of the sustainability strategy is on the four strategic topics of climate change mitigation, clean mobility, circular economies, and sustainable supply chains. In order to make the tires of the future even more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly in terms of production, use and recyclability, Continental is systematically investing in the research and development of new technologies, alternative materials, and environmentally compatible production processes.

This includes, for example, the extension of product service life through retreading. Back in 2013, Continental already built the globally unique ContiLifeCycle plant in Hanover, Germany, for this purpose. Here, specially designed machine fleets with integrated retreading systems set new standards in the field of tire recycling.

A further central concern for Continental is to cease importing natural rubber exclusively from the tropics, but to produce it as close as possible to the tire plants in order to prevent the ongoing deforestation and reduce the CO2 emissions generated through long transport routes. In future, the multiple award-winning, long-term Taraxagum project from Continental and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) will supply natural rubber from dandelion plants, which can be used for producing motorcycle, car and commercial vehicle tires. The Urban Taraxagum bicycle tire is Continental’s first series-produced tire manufactured using natural rubber from the dandelion plant.

Continental is committed to sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain and is striving to provide the greatest possible transparency and to establishing a traceable and sustainable supply chain via an electronic system. Continental is also a founding member of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), an association of the major players in the natural rubber sector from business and civil society, who are working jointly to improve global sustainability in the natural rubber sector.

Source: Continental AG

The post Continental Tires Bundles Sustainability Activities in New Department appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.