A Calgary-area agricultural technology firm is making waves on the international stage with an innovative fertilizer solution born from Alberta's energy sector. Sultech Global Innovation, headquartered in Crossfield, is exporting its patented micronized elemental sulphur technology across the globe, from Canadian farms to the deserts of the United Arab Emirates.
From a Barn to Global Markets: The Sultech Story
The journey began over a decade ago. Murray MacKinnon, Sultech's CEO and a Saskatchewan farm boy raised in High River, took on a challenge to revive a stalled project from the Alberta Research Council (now Alberta Innovates). The project focused on using feedstock from oil and gas operations. MacKinnon, known for his ability to commercialize ideas, tracked down the original research and equipment, which he found covered in pigeon droppings in an old barn.
Undeterred, he hauled the equipment to his garage and spent two years refining the process. After making significant headway, he consulted with agronomists and investors. While the federal and provincial governments showed excitement, agronomists delivered a crucial piece of feedback: the sulphur particles needed to be even smaller. This led MacKinnon to rent a small bay in Calgary, where Sultech perfected its safe and energy-efficient process.
The Science Behind the Breakthrough
Sulphur is a critical element for crop health, essential for producing enzymes and proteins and stabilizing nitrogen in plants. Historically, sulphur was deposited through acid rain, but with reduced industrial emissions and rising demand for high-yield crops, a gap in soil quality emerged.
Sultech's innovation addresses this directly. The company's proprietary technology micronizes molten elemental sulphur through a pressure-controlled injection into a special water and dispersal blend. This results in perfectly spherical, micronized particles that are almost half the diameter of a human hair. This ultra-fine size allows for dramatically faster microbial conversion in the soil and quicker uptake by plant roots, redefining sulphur fertilizer efficiency.
Going Global: From Crossfield to Abu Dhabi
Founded in 2014 after exhaustive research and testing, Sultech's product is no longer confined to a Calgary lab. The company now ships its fertilizer across Canada and to international markets including Australia, Japan, and the United States.
The global expansion reached a new milestone in November 2025, when CEO Murray MacKinnon traveled to Abu Dhabi. There, he signed a significant memorandum of understanding with Adel Saleh Al Jaberi, the acting CEO and senior vice-president of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. This agreement paves the way to bring Sultech's commercially proven, next-generation technology to the United Arab Emirates, showcasing how an Alberta-born innovation can find application in diverse agricultural environments worldwide.
From its humble beginnings in a barn and a garage, Sultech Global Innovation exemplifies how perseverance, scientific ingenuity, and a response to environmental needs can propel a local Canadian company onto the world stage, turning a challenge from the energy sector into a solution for global agriculture.
