OREANDA-NEWS. BASF today announced new investments and solutions that will help growers and partners in North America drive yields and efficiency. BASF will invest more than EUR 200 million (USD 270 million) to expand production capacity for key herbicides dicamba and DMTA at the Beaumont, Texas site as well as upgrade production at the Hannibal, Missouri site.

With capacities expected to be on line in 2016/17, the expansions will serve to meet the growing demand for BASF's diverse herbicide portfolio, which features nine different modes of action and multi-year rotational plans in order to ensure effective, flexible and durable weed control. BASF is evaluating additional investments as part of its plan to spend approximately EUR 1.8 billion between 2014 and 2018 to increase production of its crop protection products worldwide.

The investments coincide with the planned launch of more than 20 different innovations for the agricultural industry from BASF's R&D pipeline in North America, highlighted by an advanced dicamba formulation, EngeniaTM herbicide. Starting in 2015, Engenia will help growers to control resistant weeds in key row crops and also serve as a key component of dicamba/glyphosate tolerant cropping systems.

"The North American market has seen many challenges along with great opportunities in the past few years," said Markus Heldt, President of BASF's Crop Protection division. "We are committed to investing in R&D, production and personnel in North America, so that we can deliver effective and efficient solutions for growers and our retailer customers."

Additional innovations include the miticides NealtaTM for specialty crops and SultanTM for turf and ornamentals, which provide effective residual control of mites at all life stages. From Functional Crop Care's R&D platform, BASF will provide from 2015 onwards a new family of seed coating products based on Xemium(r) fungicide as well as Limus(r) urease inhibitor. Limus provides optimal nitrogen availability during crops' critical growth stages and also contributes to better environmental outcomes by helping to reduce nitrogen losses in the field.