Kansas-based Koch Agronomic Services delivers innovative plant nutrient solutions designed to boost yield potential and reduce environmental impact.
How big is your company and where does it operate?
Koch Agronomic Services (KAS) is a medium-sized company with a global footprint of channel partners and customers. Our headquarters is in Wichita, Kansas, and we are part of the Koch, Inc. family of companies.
Thirteen years ago, Koch, Inc. recognized the critical role of agriculture and established KAS to provide customized solutions that combine advanced technologies with plant nutrition products and services designed to optimize crop performance. Our global team works with growers and third-party researchers to create technologies that can optimize fertilizer investments.
What’s your business model and channel to market?
KAS brings depth of expertise on fertilizer efficiency and nutrient management to the agriculture industry. We deliver innovative plant nutrient solutions designed to boost yield potential and reduce potential environmental impact.
We work as a technology originator and product manufacturer partnering with distributors and retailers to integrate our solutions into their efficiency fertilizer and nutrient offerings. These products enhance nutrient use efficiency, including nitrogen and phosphorus. Our model combines product innovation, agronomic expertise, and strategic partnerships to deliver value to growers and improve agronomic stewardship outcomes.
What are the biggest challenges you face?
The U.S. agriculture industry is being asked to do more with less and steward resources such as phosphorus accordingly. During the crop production cycle, farmers often see a low phosphorus use efficiency rate that leaves a large portion of phosphorus immobilized in the soil and unavailable to their crops. On the other hand, unmitigated excess phosphorus may contribute to water quality issues. Solving this dichotomy and making management decisions to work within the environmental system is an ongoing challenge for the industry. Additionally, as the cost of inputs and commodity crop prices fluctuate, the industry faces structural changes. Navigating these challenges in a profitable way is a necessity for all U.S. growers and businesses that support them.
What does your company do related to phosphorus sustainability?
Koch Agronomic Services is actively advancing phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) by introducing the new enzyme product, PHOSFORCE nutrient enhancer. This product was introduced to the market in 2025 and provides a solution to mineralize phosphorus from the organic pool in the soil improving availability to crops.
Soils contain organic phosphorus which is tied up and unavailable to plants. PHOSFORCE uses a unique active ingredient — phosphodiesterase, a naturally occurring enzyme — to accelerate biochemical reactions in the soil and unlock tied-up organic phosphorus. This makes phosphorus more readily available for plant uptake to support healthy root development, improve vigor, and provide nutritional balance to overcome early environmental stress.
Where do you see the challenges or opportunities for advancing phosphorus sustainability?
Scaling technologies economically for broad adoption and managing legacy phosphorus in soils are two key challenges to be addressed by those working on phosphorus sustainability. Additionally, aligning diverse stakeholders across agriculture, policy, and industry can be a challenge, but with open dialogue that seeks mutually beneficial solutions, common ground can be found and true value created.
Opportunities in the phosphorus sustainability space include innovative products such as PHOSFORCE that create improved phosphorus use efficiency by tapping into alternative sources of phosphorus. Additionally, advances in precision agriculture are providing opportunities to leverage digital tools and sensors to measure and optimize phosphorus applications. Within the advancement of precision technologies, partnerships like those established through the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance can work to share metrics and learnings that create best practices and drive positive outcomes.
What’s been your biggest phosphorus sustainability win?
Our most significant achievement is the commercialization of PHOSFORCE nutrient enhancer. This innovation represents a step-change in nutrient stewardship, reducing reliance on other forms of phosphorus while supporting grower profitability.