Rice

State agency managing Arkansas groundwater allocation, including the Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Area (CGWA) which supplies ~50% of US rice irrigation. Oversees the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project for aquifer recharge via surface water diversions. Identified 60% reduction in groundwater withdrawals as required for long-term sustainability.

Leading private hybrid rice seed company; Alvin TX; controversial Basmati rice IP case; supplies high-yielding hybrid seeds to US and international rice growers

FMC Corporation (Philadelphia PA; NYSE: FMC) manufactures bifenthrin (Brigade, Capture) and other pyrethroid insecticides for specialty crop and turf markets. FMC's bifenthrin is the dominant insecticide for California strawberries and is widely used in professional pest control. FMC sources bifenthrin technical grade primarily from its own manufacturing (La Porte TX plant for some formulations) and through Asian suppliers. FMC also develops next-generation insecticides (diamides, SDHI combinations) but remains a significant pyrethroid market participant.

Spin-off of DowDupont (2019); legacy Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer; corn herbicides and insecticides.

Major US rice seed marketing and development company; partners with BASF (Clearfield herbicide-tolerant rice) and Bayer (Provisia herbicide-tolerant system) to market rice varieties sourced from university breeding programs and proprietary development. Serves the Mid-South rice belt (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi).

The Bureau of Reclamation (Denver CO; agency of the US Department of the Interior; ~10,000 employees; ~$1.5B annual budget) is the federal operator of the Colorado River's major water infrastructure — Hoover Dam (Nevada/Arizona border; 726-foot concrete arch-gravity dam; 2,074 MW nameplate capacity), Glen Canyon Dam (Page, AZ; 710-foot; 1,320 MW), Davis Dam (Laughlin, NV), Parker Dam, and the Central Arizona Project (CAP) pump-lift infrastructure. Reclamation operates Lake Mead (the largest US reservoir by capacity: 26.12 MAF total; ~37 miles long when full) and Lake Powell (second largest: 24.32 MAF total; Glen Canyon). Reclamation administers the Law of the River — the collection of compacts, treaties, court decisions, and federal statutes governing Colorado River allocation — and makes annual shortage determinations triggering automatic water delivery cuts to Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico. Under the 2007 Interim Guidelines (amended by the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan), Reclamation declares shortage tiers based on Lake Mead elevation: Tier 1 (<1,075 ft elevation), Tier 2 (<1,050 ft), and Tier 3 (<1,025 ft). Each tier triggers progressively larger cuts to Lower Basin allocations (Arizona bears ~60% of shortage cuts due to Arizona's junior water rights under the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act). Reclamation is simultaneously the regulator, the infrastructure operator, and the allocation enforcer for the most contested water resource in North America.

Major Chinese agrochemical company producing propanil and other off-patent herbicide active ingredients. A key global supplier of propanil technical grade (97%+ purity) for US and global formulation markets. Publicly listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Public university breeding program that develops publicly available rice varieties (Cypress, Jupiter, Mermentau, Jewel). Varieties can be saved and replanted by farmers; LSU varieties dominate Louisiana rice acreage and are a check on proprietary seed pricing.

Largest irrigation district serving the California Sacramento Valley rice belt. Receives Central Valley Project water from Lake Shasta via Bureau of Reclamation; serves ~240,000 acres of rice and other crops in Glenn and Colusa counties. 100% CVP water allocation in 2023-2024 after near-zero (0-18%) in 2022 drought.

Bayer CropScience (Bayer AG; Leverkusen Germany; NYSE: BAYRY; inherited from Monsanto acquisition 2018 for $63B) is the dominant intellectual property licensor for commercial canola genetics. Approximately 90% of Canadian canola is genetically modified — primarily herbicide-tolerant varieties under Roundup Ready (glyphosate tolerance) and LibertyLink (glufosinate tolerance) trait systems. Bayer (via Monsanto acquisition) owns the key GM canola trait IP and collects technology use fees from Canadian canola farmers per acre planted. This IP position means Bayer is an invisible but structurally essential participant in every bushel of Canadian canola produced — not as a grain trader or crusher, but as the mandatory licensor of the seed technology. Bayer's canola trait licensing revenue from Canada is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars annually. EU restrictions on importing GM rapeseed create a latent trade barrier: Canadian canola (90% GM) can only be sold to EU crushers under an 'authorized use' protocol for food/feed that requires European Food Safety Authority approval for each GM event.

One of the world's largest ammonia producers; Donaldsonville Complex (Louisiana) is the world's largest single ammonia production complex — 4.335M MT/year capacity, 6 plants on 1,400 acres along the Mississippi River. Produced 9.8M MT gross ammonia in 2024 across all facilities. Also operates plants in Iowa, Louisiana, Courtright (Ontario Canada), Ince (UK), Billingham (UK). Added CO2 capture at Donaldsonville (2025) enabling ~1.9M MT/year 'low-carbon ammonia' for export to Japan/Korea. Joint venture with JERA + Mitsui for $4B 'blue ammonia' plant in Louisiana.

World's largest ammonia distributor via Yara Clean Ammonia; >15% global ammonia market share. Produces and trades ~17-18M MT of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers annually. Revenue $13.9B in 2024. Plants across Norway (Herøya/Porsgrunn: 500,000 MT/yr), Germany (Brunsbüttel: 800,000 MT/yr), Australia (Pilbara: 850,000 MT/yr, ~5% of world merchant ammonia supply), and 15+ other countries. Also the world's largest multi-nutrient fertilizer producer in Western Europe. Pivoting to green ammonia: started Europe's largest electrolyzer at Herøya (Norway) in 2024 for renewable hydrogen/ammonia. Yara Clean Ammonia is positioning to supply ammonia as marine fuel.

World's largest potash producer with 6 Saskatchewan mines. Vanscoy mine (west of Saskatoon) uses solution mining technology — fresh water drawn from the Saskatchewan River (~20km pipeline) is used in brine management. Deep subsurface saline aquifer brine injection used for waste disposal at Vanscoy (injected into Winnipeg/Deadwood Formations at 1,500-1,700m depth). Conventional underground mines at Rocanville, Allan, Lanigan, Cory, Belle Plaine also produce waste brine requiring aquifer disposal. Nutrien operates Canada's only solution potash mine at Vanscoy. Plans to reach 18M MT/year Saskatchewan capacity.

China's largest urea and phosphate fertilizer producer; state-backed enterprise leveraging Yunnan province natural gas and phosphate resources. Major domestic supplier and periodic exporter when China permits urea exports.

Joint venture majority owned by QatarEnergy (75%) with Yara International (25%). QAFCO operates the world's largest single-site ammonia/urea complex at Mesaieed, Qatar, with 3.8 million tonnes/year ammonia capacity across six trains. Feedstock is domestic North Field natural gas — among the cheapest in the world.

Russia's largest nitrogen fertilizer producer; 25% of Russian nitrogen exports. Produces ammonia, urea, ammonium nitrate, and compound fertilizers. Exports ~5.5 Mt/year; affected by 2022 sanctions but fertilizers were initially exempted by US/EU to avoid food security crisis. Owns potash mines in Russia.

Saudi Arabian ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer producer; subsidiary of SABIC (Saudi Aramco majority owner). Plants at Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. Produces ammonia using Saudi natural gas feedstock at highly competitive cost. Major exporter to Asia-Pacific. Building 6th facility: 1.2M MT/year low-carbon 'blue' ammonia + 1.1M MT/year urea. Saudi Arabia and Qatar together are primary Middle East ammonia producers (~4-5% of global capacity combined).

Major nitrogen fertilizer and ammonia company with plants in the US (OCI Beaumont TX, formerly Iowa Fertilizer Company), Netherlands (OCI Nitrogen, Geleen), Algeria (Fertial), and Egypt (EBIC). Also produces methanol. One of the largest merchant ammonia producers globally. Sold its US nitrogen business to Koch Ag & Energy Solutions in January 2024 for $3.6B, focusing its remaining assets on Netherlands, Algeria, and international methanol. Major shift in US ammonia market as OCI Iowa/Beaumont transferred to Koch.