I'm always super excited and enthusiastic when I travel to South America. The main reason for that – the people. Always welcoming and smiling. Wiling to bring you in and become your friend right away. My trip to South America started in Ecuador. A great place at the center of the globe.
In Ecuador, some regions contain most favorable conditions for forestry cultivation. With high rain precipitation (in some areas can reach 3000 mm) and distribution throughout the year and moderated temperature, make a great location for timber culture.
Along with my colleagues, I have met Gmelina arborea growers. They were looking for a better solution for fertilizing their trees during planting. After analyzing the specific environmental conditions in their area, a specific Multicote Agri™ formulation was created specifically for their needs. I can't wait to come back next year to see the promising results.
Only one meeting in Ecuador. Next stop – Santa Marta. At the Caribbean sore of northern Colombia.
Many people within the agricultural world haven’t heard yet about Multicote™ Control Release Fertilizers technology. Part of my job as Haifa's Market Development Agronomist, is to expose these people to this remarkable fertilization solution since it might change completely the way the know soil based fertilizers.
We have gathered Banana and palm Oil growers, agricultural consultants and fertilizers distributors in one room to teach and explain about Haifa's nutritional solutions – specifically on the way of usage, the benefits and of couse many success stories of our Multicote™ products such as Multicote Agri™ and CoteN Mix™. 
The participants were very much intrigued by new possibility of reducing cost of application, reducing the number of applications per crop cycle, improving yields and reducing the impact on the environment.
After the meeting, we all went to evaluate one Palm Oil farm not far from Santa Marta. The soil is volcanic and has great porosity but is relatively acidic. Rain regime can vary, while the average annual rainfall is approx. 1200mm. Organic matter content is high after many years of enrichment. We saw a well maintained farm with relatively high yield (25 ton/ha). The owner and farms agronomist admitted they want to find a better way to have more yield and at the same time reduce the number of applications and the quantity of fertilizers. They were both fascinated be our idea to add Coated Multicote™ Boron to the blend and by that also reduce the Boron deficiency that is a well-known problem when the soil's pH is very acidic.
After enjoying the great Caribbean weather, next stop – Valle del Cauca.
This soil rich valley is located between the central and the occidental Andes mountain ridge the crosses Colombia from north to south. Valle del Cauca is Colombia's largest sugar-cane producer. It also has large rice fields and grows sorghum, yucca, coffee, cocoa, cotton, corn and bean crops. After descending below the clouds, the view from the plane before landing at Santiago de Cali was indeed a "sea" of green farming.
In the next few days in the valley, I had the pleasure to meet great people: Growers, that after many years of fertilizing the same method, were brave to change their way of feeding their crops and are now super happy with using CoteN Mix™ tailor made blends. Investigators that are amazed by the efficiency of Haifa's coated nutrients. What really impressed them were the way crops that were affected by diseases, were significantly more resistant and less damaged in comparison to plots that were conventionally fertilized.
I believe Haifa’s Multicote™ line of products has a lot more to offer in this region of the world. Together with the great support and professionality of the Haifa local team, I predict that more and more farmers will be able to enjoy this magical product.
