Fertilizer firm uses patent to grow

Sarasota-based Florikan is reaping some big benefits from five years and more than $500,000 of research and development on new fertilizer technology.

Florikan has sold the patented product, Florikote, to farms on the East Coast for several years. But the company recently scored its biggest Florikote victory to date when it licensed the technology to J.R. Simplot Co., a global leader in crop nutrient and fertilizer products. Boise, Idaho-based J.R. Simplot, a $5 billion business, tested and investigated Florikote for three years, Florikan President Eric Rosenthal says.

J.R. Simplot will now sell Florikote to farms west of the Rockies, in addition to licensing the technology. Financial terms of the licensing deal weren't disclosed, though Rosenthal says Simplot's approval is a big deal in agriculture circles. “It really validates our technology,” Rosenthal tells Coffee Talk.

A 40-employee firm founded in 1981, Florikan initially began to work on Florikote in 2003 with help from the NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program. The product and manufacturing process, says Florikan, allows farmers to spread and utilize the polymer-coated fertilizer with a controlled-release mechanism.

Florikan, moreover, has developed multiple applications for the fertilizer that have been successfully tested on several kinds of crops, from sugarcane to citrus. Florikan says a single application of its controlled release can match yields with three to five applications of conventional, granular fertilizer.

Rosenthal and Florikan Vice President of Specialty Agriculture Brian Patterson say the feedback from customers on Florikote has been stellar. Says Patterson: “Progressive farmers in Florida learned they can produce the same crop with a 40% annual reduction in total nitrogen inputs and ensure that their crops are fed every day, avoiding the feast-and-famine cycle.”