Ballance is a 100-percent farmer-owned co-operative, with some 18,000 shareholders throughout New Zealand. It was officially launched in 2001, the final step in a series of company amalgamations and alliances that saw regional fertiliser co-operatives come together under the umbrella of what was then Bay of Plenty Fertiliser.

Today, Ballance is a truly national company, with staff located from the Far North to the Deep South. The company places a strong emphasis on delivering value to its shareholders and on the use of a scientific approach to plant nutrient management

January 24, 2007 - Fertiliser producer Ballance Agri-Nutrients shifted two massive tanks used for sulphuric acid storage yesterday as part of a $1.1 million environmental project upgrade.  At the Awarua factory site, contractors Donaldson Construction and Smith Cranes carefully moved the empty 35-tonne steel tanks, which have a capacity of 1000 tonnes of acid, to concrete pads.  Operations manager Neil Miller said that in the extremely unlikely event the tanks failed, acid would be contained by the concrete pads and within 1.8m high concrete walls that were being built around them.  Four other smaller tanks, built in the 50s, were being decommissioned and would be sold off.  The project, 12 months in the planning, was a continuation of Ballance's environmental storm water recycling project, he said.  Last year Ballance won a top corporate award from Environment Southland for a 10-year effort to clean up its Awarua site.  "The company has spent a lot of money on proactive environment projects. With time these changes would be forced upon us but we are doing it beforehand," Mr Miller said.  The sulphuric acid is mixed with phosphate and made into super phosphate for agricultural uses.  Ballance also stores acid in a much larger tank in Bluff, from which trucks transfer up to 20 loads a day in peak season.