The plant here will "bring back an industry that's shutting down," Hunt Ramsbottom, the company chairman, said of the fertilizer business.

Financing for the changes came chiefly from "monetizing" its holdings in the fertilizer business.

In an initial public offering, the company spun off the fertilizer business, raising $606 million.

International Minerals retained a portion of the business, but analysts expect the company will leave the fertilizer business completely by 1991.

Weighed down by huge debts and a severely depressed fertilizer business, Farmland was forced to file for bankruptcy protection last year.

By early 2002, the fertilizer business was losing a lot of money.

Marsden says there is more change, more uncertainty, than at any time in his 33 years in the fertilizer business.

This has to happen in the face of a continuing decline of the fertilizer business in general.

After its annual meeting, Grace also said the company was negotiating to sell its fertilizer business.

In 1991, Exxon decided to divest its fertilizer business on a global basis.