XL Foods Inc., one of Canada’s largest beef processors, is acquiring a chain of long-standing fertilizer retail businesses as part of a deal to buy, for C$107 million, Lakeside Farm Industries and its subsidiary, Lakeside Packers, from Tyson Foods Inc. Tyson reports that a letter of intent had been signed with XL Foods, part of Canadian cattle-feeder and marketer Nilsson Bros. Group, to sell the Lakeside packing, feedyard, and fertilizer assets.
Lakeside Farm Industries, based in Brooks, Alberta, is a diversified agribusiness involved in cattle feeding, slaughtering, and processing, as well as retail fertilizer and farming.
Tyson spokeswoman Libby Lawson referred briefly to Lakeside’s fertilizer involvement as “essentially retail sales to farmers and other direct users.”
Lakeside Fertilizer has operated in southern Alberta for nearly 40 years and has become the province’s largest independent retailer of fertilizer and ag-chemicals, with six locations at Brooks, Medicine Hat, Bow Island, Taber, Claresholm, and Vauxhall.
Lakeside began operations in Brooks in 1969 in conjunction with a feed processing business. In 1987 the company acquired the Vauxhall, Claresholm, and Bow Island plants, in 1994 the Medicine Hat facility, and Taber in 1995. Each location features a fertilizer plant plus a full-service agricultural supply retail outlet. Vauxhall has storage for 1,600 mt of dry and 1,400 mt of liquid fertilizer, and has a high speed, 200 mt capacity overhead blending system. Taber has storage for 400 mt of dry fertilizers and 200 mt of liquid fertilizer.
When asked if there were any concerns about the ownership change, one employee at Taber remarked, “We’ve been so busy we haven’t had time to let it sink in.”