Helena Chemical Company

Call it cops for crops, if you will:  Helena Chemical's mission is to protect and serve. The product line of the company, the agricultural products division of Japanese business group Marubeni's US subsidiary Marubeni America, is split into two units: Crop Protection and Crop Production. It produces agricultural chemicals, seeds, and fertilizers. Helena Chemical has four toll manufacturing sites -- in Arkansas, California, Georgia, and Iowa -- and sales, marketing, and distribution locations throughout the US. Ancillary product lines and services include forestry, aquatic, and vegetation management.

Geographic Reach

Helena sells to Asia, Australia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Western Europe. In the US, Helena's field sales organization comprises four regional Business Units (Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western) that provide support and management oversight to the sales divisions. Helena's Specialty Division includes Market Segments, Turf, Ornamental, Forestry, Aquatics, and Industrial. The company has 350 sales locations in strategic markets across the country.

Operations

Helena offers a variety of agricultural chemicals, seed, fertilizer and related products. It has four plants which provide toll manufacturing services for its suppliers as well as manufacturing Helena's line of private and proprietary products. In addition to traditional agricultural products, Helena offers services in turf and ornamental products, forestry, aquatic and vegetation supplies. Its proprietary line of products includes adjuvant, seed treatments, bioscience, nutritional and value-added generics, which are distributed to Latin America, Europe, and Asian Pacific countries by through Marubeni affiliates.

Strategy

The company uses new and exiting chemistries to expand its offerings to keep its competitive edge. Its products include insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides and services such as custom seed treating and product delivery. It also offers a number of fertilizer blends and services, including plant-tissue testing and soil-testing, micronutrients and specialty foliar fertilizers, field mapping and financial services, as well as agronomic consultation and advisory services.

Helena also offers an extensive line of crop protection and crop production products under the umbrella of Helena Products Group, as well as agronomic analytical tools (AGRIntelligence) and laboratory services (MegaLab).

Ownership

Helena is a subsidiary of Marubeni America.