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By Rod Nickel and Ana Mano WINNIPEG, Manitoba/SAO PAULO, March 12 (Reuters) - Taking apage from its aggressive growth strategy in the United States,cash-rich Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd plansto plow investment into Brazil in a bid to reap up to 30 percentof farm supply sales in fertile pockets of the country. But business in Brazil's farm sector - the world's fastestgrowing - strays far from the usual practices in North America'sfarm belt, where Nutrien is a top supplier of fertilizer,chemicals and seed. It’s a place where the ancient economy of bartering – inthis case swapping crops for fertilizer – is still common,helping Brazilian farmers mitigate their high reliance oncredit. Selling directly to farmers in the way Nutrien plans isa risk that rivals Mosaic Co and Yara International ASA are avoiding, senior executives from both companiestold Reuters. For Nutrien, going big in retail sales of seed, chemicalsand fertilizer to Brazilian farmers is a way to manage anotherrisk - volatility in wholesale fertilizer prices. Retail storesin the United States are a boon during times of high supply andlow prices – as now – because they give the biggest globalfertilizer producer by capacity assurance of base demand in amajor farm market. Brazilian barters typically involve farmers, grain handlerssuch as Cargill Inc and fertilizer sellers inthree-way arrangements that see farmers commit a portion oftheir future harvest to the grain handler in exchange forfertilizer from the manufacturer. Such deals are unnecessary in Canada and the United States,where chartered banks and government lenders provide amplecredit to tide farmers over to autumn, when they can startselling their output. Brazilian farmers lack such willinglenders, so they rely on monetizing crops that have not evenbeen planted. "Farmers use their soybeans like their money; use their cornlike it's cash," said Rick McLellan, senior vice-president ofBrazil for Mosaic, which does some barter deals involving itsfertilizer deliveries. For a graphic, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2GQ4wLd Nutrien, formed in January by a merger of Potash Corp ofSaskatchewan and Agrium, disclosed the same month that itintends to become a major farm supplier in Brazil, stretchingits reach beyond North America, Australia and Argentina. Chief Executive Chuck Magro revealed to Reuters that thecompany is looking to roll up as much as 30 percent of farmretail sales in pockets of central and southern Brazil - a levelthat it calculates may not raise antitrust concerns. The growthplan hinges mainly on buying existing retail dealers. Getting there may take many years, with price tags to buyretail dealers currently high, Magro said, declining to place atimeline on his plans. "What we're doing today is going to be a program that willlast many, many years," he said. "The vision is to have a NorthAmerican-South American integrated company. If we can get there,that's a pretty powerful global complex." To build up its Brazil business, Nutrien is willing tobarter by accepting grain as collateral against credit, similarto how it operates in Argentina, Magro said. Julio Zavala, general manager at Brazilian fertilizerblender Utilfértil Indústria de Fertilizantes, which Nutrienowns, said the company is still devising its strategy forbuilding retail. Utilfertil has already done some bartering withfarmers through grain traders Cargill and Bunge Ltd , hesaid. The Brazil venture could give Nutrien a grasp of the world'sfastest-growing major agriculture market, or cause an expensiveslip-up just as it woos investors back to an oversupplied globalcrop nutrient sector. The stock is trading around the same level it opened at onJan. 2. Investors are focused on how Nutrien will spend some$4.6 billion on growth in Brazil and shareholder returns afterit sells stakes in companies SQM , Arab Potash Company and ICL Israel Chemicals to appease mergerregulators, according to analysts. BARTERING AND BANDING TOGETHER Rival Mosaic sees too much risk in Nutrien's strategy tofollow along. U.S.-based Mosaic sells bulk fertilizer to Brazilian farmslarge enough to own storage facilities, but has no interest increating a retail network, said Chief Executive Joc O'Rourke.Brazil's retail system is "hugely fragmented," made up of manytiny players, he said. "A lot of these are almost back-of-the-shed type retailoperations and we don't want to get into the greater risk thatgoes with that," O'Rourke said in an interview. Some 100 retail dealers in Brazil sell to farmers, and noneowns more than 5 percent market share, according to Bank ofMontreal. Yara sees different risk in any attempt to be a one-stopsupplier: moving too far beyond its core expertise of fertilizerand into seeds and chemicals. "That’s a totally different business," said Cleiton Vargas,Yara's senior vice-president of crop nutrition in Brazil. Yara sells about half of the fertilizer it produces inBrazil in direct deliveries to mostly large, successful farmersand shares the risk of selling to smaller growers by utilizingother retail sellers, Vargas said. While Brazil is a farm powerhouse, it still imported some26.3 million tonnes of fertilizer last year, according tofertilizer association ANDA, which amounts to three quarters ofthe nutrients that farmers used. According to a major farmer group, new entrants are welcomebecause they potentially increase competition among inputsellers, reducing prices. “The more players, the better,” said Antônio Galvan,president of the Mato Grosso soy growers association Aprosoja.Commonly, Brazilian farmers band together in large groups andbuy directly from fertilizer producers in a bid to cutfertilizer costs. Others, like Cayron Giacomelli, barter crops for fertilizerthrough grain traders including China's state-owned COFCO and Amaggi. A potential acquisition target, fertilizer distributor andfarmer cooperative Fecoagro, is intrigued by Nutrien’s plan. "We are open to anything," said executive director IvanRamos. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Ana Mano inSao Paulo; Editing by Denny Thomas and Edward Tobin)