Agrium Inc.’s retail division, Crop Production Services, is in talks to buy Miles Farm Supply of Owensboro, Ky. Both companies confirmed the talks. Agrium said no other details were available as of Oct. 21.
Separate industry sources confirmed, however, that Miles had alerted key vendors that the acquisition would be complete Nov. 19.
Miles has 19 retail locations in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, all of which extend within a 100-mile radius of the company’s main office in Owensboro and together service some 250,000 acres of farmland. According to the company’s Web site, each location offers a full line of fertilizer, agricultural supplies and chemicals, seed, liquid and dry application services, soil testing, and professional fertilizer recommendations.
Miles also operates a wholesale fertilizer division that serves customers in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee, with locations at Owensboro, Shelbyville, Ky., and Shawneetown, Ill. The Riverport facility in Owensboro has capacity for 42,000 tons of dry materials and 30,000 tons of liquid fertilizers, and can be supplied by barge or unit train.
In addition to the retail and wholesale operations, Miles’ Web site also lists numerous other business divisions under the Miles Enterprises banner, including the AgriMart agricultural equipment dealership in Owensboro; Big Rivers Agri Supply, a wholesale distributor of crop protection chemistry, liquid and bagged fertilizers, and adjuvants in Kentucky, Indiana, northern Tennessee, southern Illinois, and the Missouri Bootheel; ForagePro; Miles Seed; Miles Financial Services; and the Opti-Crop farm management and crop consulting firm.
Agrium’s CPS, headquartered in Loveland, Colo., was acquired by the company in 1993. Since January 2009, all of Agrium’s retail operations in the U.S. have operated under the Crop Production Services name (GM Oct. 6, 2008).
According to its Web site, CPS already has roughly a dozen retail facilities near Owensboro in locations such as Henderson, Utica, Slaughters, Poole, Clay, Waverly, Morganfield, and Madisonville, and in nearby Indiana locations at Evansville and Mt. Vernon.
Agrium is the largest retail farm store operator in the U.S. At the time of Agrium’s acquisition of United Agri-Products in 2008 (GM May 12, 2008), the company had approximately 870 retail outlets, giving it just under 15 percent of the market. Agrium has made multiple acquisitions since then, including more than 60 farm centers in the U.S. and Canada during the second half of 2009. Among these were 24 Agriliance outlets purchased in November 2009 (GM Nov. 20, 2009).
In June 2009, Agrium President and CEO Mike Wilson said the company planned to double its retail business in the next five years (GM June 22, 2009). This year, (GM Aug. 23, 2010), Agrium reached an agreement with Australia’s AWB Ltd., bringing it another 400 retail locations in that country.