Joseph factory, Albaugh bought 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid from an Australian firm, an Argentinean one and Dow Chemical.
But that deal was small beans compared with Albaugh's 1995 fight to acquire Atanor, his Argentinean supplier.
"They'll figure it out and get it all squared away, " said Ridgely Albaugh of Lower Marlboro, Maryland.
That's been a theme for Albaugh ever since: Where others have seen challenge or peril, he's seen opportunity.
Albaugh didn't have the money to buy it, and no bank would lend him money to do so.
So when Albaugh met with Monsanto to negotiate its compensation payment for the certification data, he had some leverage.
Some of the banks that had bankrolled Albaugh needed their money back quickly.
In Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines surrounded by farmland, Albaugh is bankrolling a 1, 031-acre development that will have 3, 555 homes.
"He doesn't allow typical emotions that cloud our lives to affect his thought process, " says Spencer Vance, president of Albaugh Inc.
As Albaugh added products like the herbicide trifluralin to his lineup, he saw that his biggest sellers were made by Atanor.
Albaugh told Monsanto that, if need be, he would import glyphosate from Argentina, which could push the U.S. price of glyphosate down.
But in an irony Albaugh can appreciate, Monsanto has suggested some farmers use other herbicides, including 2, 4-D, in concert with glyphosate to combat resistance.
"We have a little bit of stock, but not much, " Jim Albaugh, chief executive of Boeing's commercial airlines unit, said in an interview on CNBC.
Not too long ago, Boeing commercial aircraft CEO, Jim Albaugh, raised the case of increased competition and the end of their duopoly with Airbus.
FORBES: Boeing Confirms Duopoly With Airbus Announcing Re-Engining Of 737
Albaugh had an advantage because Atanor had a recipe for glyphosate.
Albaugh approached 25 banks that wanted no part of his gamble.
Albaugh figured he could run Atanor more efficiently by operating its factories year-round and shipping more of its products to the U.S. during the Argentinean winter.
Joseph factory, Albaugh bought 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid from an Australian firm, an Argentinean one and Dow Chemical (nyse: DOW - news - people ).
These days Albaugh, who says he'll sell his company "at some point, " spends most of his year in Florida, a state with no personal income tax.
Their owners had been losing money, and sugar prices had been depressed for years, but Albaugh wanted the mills for an alcohol they produce that is used to make 2, 4-D.
Dennis Albaugh's first attempt at entrepreneurial capitalism wasn't auspicious.
Albaugh folded the erstwhile acid-making equipment into other operations.
Glyphosate was a wild success, beyond Albaugh's expectations.
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