> Build
Local agriscience company
serves the farmer
S
By Dalton Spangler
ince the late 1930s, the site of Corte-
va Agriscience in Valdosta has been in
business producing chemicals for many
different purposes and under many differ-
ent names. The site was originally owned
by Griffin LLC until November 2003 when
Dow-Dupont Chemical Company took over.
Since June 3, 2019, Corteva has owned the site and
has been producing pesticides and fungicides for farm-
ers and distributors in much of the Northern Hemi-
sphere. The company as a whole distributes worldwide
branching out beyond North and South America into
Asia and the Pacific.
Aneesha Johnson, who worked Corteva for
22 years, took charge as site leader in Valdosta five
years ago when the manufacturing site was owned by
Dow-Dupont Chemical Company.
Johnson began working for the company as a
process engineer at a facility in Richmond, Va. Since,
she has served in quality roles, as line manager, and
eventually landed the plant manager role in Valdosta.
“This plant site is growing. We’re bringing new
products in, we’re hiring, there’s significant investment,”
Johnson said. “A multimillion-dollar expansion has
been underway here to expand our facilities. Excited
we’re able to contribute to the community and local
economy.”
The facility opened its newest production unit,
unit three, Nov. 18. It will raise the capacity of the site
by 30% to 40% and add 12 more jobs bringing the total
number to 75 employees.
The expansion took nine months to build with the
help of 150 contractors.
Derek Warzynski manages the site’s training of
contractors and new hires. Last year, Warzynski trained
126 contractors not just for the new construction but for
other activities on the site.
“We want to be able to give everyone the skill set to
do the job safely and have the highest quality of produc-
tion,” Warzynski said.
A veteran of the company,
Milton Jackson has worked at
the Valdosta site for 34 years
operating heavy machinery and
managing formulation areas.
He is now the operations team
leader on the shop floor.
The facility has three units
with their own teams of about
20 people. Each unit produces
its own final product chemical.
In each unit, ingredients are
mixed, the final chemical is
made and then finally packaged
in containers from a single quart
to a thousand-liter tote.
Steven Ewing, environmen-
tal health safety and security
Corteva staff Steven Ewing, Milton Jackson, Derek Warzynski, and Aneesha Johnson.
28
Trendsetters | Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce