CPDA Member Spotlight: Fine Americas, Inc
CPDA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
FINE AMERICAS, INC
Fine Americas, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fine Holdings Ltd., Worcester, UK.
While its parent company was founded in 1983 as a leading supplier of plant growth
regulators (PGRs) to world markets, Fine Americas was established 10 years ago to
give the company a greater presence in North and South America.
Since then, Fine Americas has expanded its product line and country registrations
dramatically to bring new products to the agricultural marketplace, including several
proprietary technologies and advanced formulations. Currently, Fine markets 10
products in the greenhouse ornamental sector and another six products in the high-value
and row crop agricultural markets, with additional registrations pending.
Headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, Fine Americas is one of Western
Hemisphere’s leading suppliers of advanced plant growth regulators for the
agricultural markets.
One-of-a-kind products
In terms of exclusive products, Fine Americas was the first company to offer a 2%
6-BA plant growth regulator for greenhouse ornamentals. Two years ago, it launched
the world’s first and only 4% paclobutrazol PGR in a soluble liquid formulation, providing
ornamental growers with unsurpassed performance and convenience. Last year, Fine
introduced a new state-of-the-art ethephon PGR for ornamentals containing six times
the active ingredient of traditional ethephon products. And this year, Fine Americas has
registered a new active ingredient (5% prohydrojasmon) in the U.S. for enhanced red
coloration of Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp and other bi-color apple varieties.
In addition, Fine Americas is in the process of registering a number of new active
ingredients, along with new formulations of existing products to meet market demands
and California EPA guidelines regulating volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.
The first of these new formulations will be a low VOC liquid gibberellic acid (GA3) PGR
for use in table grapes, cherries and citrus.
A decade of excellence
These new product introductions and continued geographic expansion, combined with
outstanding sales, distributor and technical support, have allowed Fine Americas to
grow its business significantly over the past 10 years. The company takes great pride in
this accomplishment, considering the macroeconomic challenges the industry has faced
during that period.
Another source of Fine’s success stems from its outstanding manufacturing
processes. All of its products are manufactured under strict ISO 9001-2008 quality
control standards and the company continually strives to improve plant growth regulator
technology to meet the exacting demands of today’s quality-conscious growers.
An even brighter future
Looking to the future, Fine Americas will continue to bring innovative new PGR
products and technologies to the agricultural markets. Growers in all segments are
becoming increasingly sophisticated in their use of plant growth regulators, so the
company plans to provide new PGR active ingredients and improved formulations to
help drive the PGR market forward. In turn, this will allow growers experienced in the
use of PGRs to continue fine-tuning their PGR programs as a cost-effective way to
improve crop size, quality, color, yield and harvest efficiency. Plus, it will enable row
crop growers to expand their use of PGRs to improve crop performance and yields.
Fine Americas attributes much of its success to its distribution partners throughout
the Western Hemisphere. In the U.S. and Canada, the company works closely with
distributors to provide outstanding sales and service support in their respective
geographic areas. In other regions of the hemisphere, Fine has formed strategic
alliances with partners in each country to distribute and support its product line.
Furthermore, Fine Americas is proud to be at the forefront of ongoing testing programs
with leading university researchers as a means of constantly improving product
performance and expanding product registrations.
Finally, Fine Americas relies on targeted marketing communications to reach its key
audiences with high-impact sales messages. From print advertising, technical bulletins
and public relations to webinars, email marketing and program sponsorships, marketing
communications plays an essential role in building brand awareness and preference for
Fine’s products while positioning the company as a leader in the field of plant growth
regulators.
