Exclusive Tour Provides Inside Scoop On Stockosorb

Frank Giles selfieWhere does the stuff in diapers come from? Let me rephrase that. Where does the absorbent stuff in diapers come from?
That’s was one of the things I learned on a recent tour of Evonik Industries’ plant in Greensboro, NC. Until my visit, I didn’t realize just how big Evonik is in terms of being a global company. It has production sites in 24 countries and is active in more than 100 countries, making it a global leader in specialty chemicals.

The Greensboro plant is one of the largest employers in the city, providing 300 jobs on the 55-acre site. One of the company’s biggest sectors is baby care. Back to question, yes they make the absorbent stuff that’s in many of the most popular brands of diapers. You know those little pads that absorb liquid in packs of meats? They make the absorbent material in those, too.
The company also manufacturers various skin cleaning products, materials used in fire fighting, and protective lining that goes in cables. But the reason I was invited on the tour was to learn more about Evonik’s agricultural soil conditioning product called Stockosorb.

Following Megatrends

Advertisement

Why would a company that is globally known for its baby care line get involved in agriculture? Megatrends. With a world population that is rapidly growing, the Evonik folks told me they recognized agriculture as a megatrend more than 20 years ago when they got into the ag business.
As Tiffanie Roach, assistant marketing manager for Evonik’s NAFTA region, pointed out in her presentation during my visit: We lose 2 acres per minute, 3,000 acres per day, and 1.1 million acres per year to development. So, with a population expected to be around 9 billion by 2050, we will have a lot more people to feed on a lot less arable land.
“What if two-thirds of the world’s population suffers from moderate to severe water shortages by 2025?” Roach asked. Less land, more people, on a drier planet all sound like megatrends to me and Evonik thinks so, too.

That’s where their Stockosorb product comes in. The product is made up of organic synthetic polymers that absorb water and helps retain moisture in the soil during dry conditions. And, on the flip side, when a big rain comes and saturates the root zone, the product actually pulls water away from the roots so they can breath and not drown.

Top Articles
Have a Plan For Climate Change? Why Fruit Growers Need To Act Now

When we visited the Greensboro facility, we did an experiment pouring a small scoop of Stockosorb into a large bowl and then poured in several bottles of water. Before long, that small scoop had expanded and nearly filled the bowl with a jell-like material as it went to work. The Evonik people tell me the polymers can absorb hundreds of times their own weight in water. If you ever see their booth at a trade show, stop by because they do this water bowl trick there, too.

Photo by Frank Giles

Photo by Frank Giles

Field Results

Gregory Jackson, a regional manager for Brandt Consolidated, was on the tour with us. Brandt is a distributor of Stockosorb. He says trials and field experience have been positive with the product.
“We have six years of experience using hydrogels and have found them to be a helpful water management tool for growing intensive vegetable and melon production under plastic drip situations as well as row incorporation on potatoes,” he said. “A major positive in sandy land crops is water retention in drought situations and improved nutrient holding capacity in heavy rainfall periods.”
In an age challenged to produce food to feed a rapidly growing world population, it is always encouraging to see new technologies and techniques put to work to meet the demand. During the tour, the Evonik team emphasized their desire to help be a part of the solution.

If you’d like to learn more about the company, visit Stockosorb.com.

0