Kynoch and the company they are today

Specialist writer

Natasha Pansegrouw

Named after its founder, George Kynoch, the Kynoch brand has been part of agriculture in Southern Africa for the last 104 years.

The original company, known today as Kynoch Fertilizer, started as a munitions and explosives manufacturer that had its origin in Birmingham, England.

In the early 1900s, land was bought from the Natal Government to build a plant at Umbogintwini outside of Durban to produce explosives for the mining industry in the Witwatersrand.

After the end of the first world war in 1918, there was an oversupply of explosives, and Kynoch changed its focus and modified its explosive plant to be able to produce superphosphate fertiliser at Umbogintwini — the country’s first chemical fertiliser plant.

Kynoch is a leading importer, blender, and retailer of a complete range of granular, liquid, and specialty fertilisers in South Africa and boasts a solid footprint in Southern Africa. Our food producers are serviced by a large sales and agronomic support team based in all provinces across the country.

With depots nationwide and import and blending facilities in all major ports in the Southern Africa region, including a liquid fertiliser blending facility at Endicott, Douglas, and Christiana, as well as blenders in Durban, Endicott, and Cape Town. Kynoch offers a comprehensive product and service offering to food producers across the region.

At Kynoch, we believe in a crop-, growth stage, and site-specific approach. Our in-house team of agriculturalists has the scientific knowledge to advise on the best programme and scheduling of nutrients and give fertiliser proposals based on the specific circumstances and needs of food producers.

We make use of soil samples to determine the fertility status of the soil as well as leaf samples to determine the nutritional status of the crop.

We also believe in managing the soil solution by combining different fertiliser materials. This will increase the nutrients available to the plant when it matters most.

Kynoch is at the heart of innovating new science and technology and employs precision agriculture as part of its practices. Precision agriculture minimises risk, saves time, and reduces cost.

Kynoch’s focus through the years had been on mainly extensive crops such as maize, soya bean, wheat, and sugarcane; however, in recent years, it has expanded its focus to include intensive and specialty crops, such as tropical fruits, citrus, potatoes, and vegetables.

Kynoch was the first fertiliser company to introduce urease inhibitors to the Southern African market, and its KynoPlus range is the market leader in this field.

At Kynoch, we don’t believe in a single application of a specific product — we combine products to benefit our food producers so that they can make more money per hectare.

Over the years, Kynoch has also developed its own range of innovative specialty products.

With a solid foundation from the ETG Group, which built a global network of hand-picked quality suppliers, products, and employees, Kynoch is able to grow the brand and its footprint and carry on the company’s 104-year-old legacy.

Our flagship solution, KynoPlus®-treated with AGROTAIN®, has been formulated to mitigate the volatilsiation losses typically associated with urea as well as reduce potential leaching losses. This N-enhanced-N™ efficient nitrogen fertiliser enables you to apply nitrogen without adding any additional risk to the environment. When using KynoPlus®, you improve the efficiency and effectiveness of applied nitrogen, which can result in enhanced crop quality, yield, and profit. The power of blue will put green back into your crops.

Kynoch – enhanced efficiency through innovation.