White Cloud Grain Co., a 45-year-old enterprise in northeastern Kansas, has decided to exit the grain business and focus exclusively on crop inputs and agronomy. The company, headquartered in Hiawatha, Kan., completed the transition in early August with the sale of its three grain elevators to Fairview Mills of Seneca, Kan.

White Cloud also announced that it has changed its name to Advanced Agronomics to better reflect its new mission. The company has full service fertilizer facilities in White Cloud, Robinson, Huron, and Troy, Kan., and eight anhydrous ammonia terminals throughout its trade area. Also under the company umbrella is Advanced Agronomics Kiro, located in Silver Lake, Kan.

“Production agriculture continues to move forward, and so will our business as we are going to focus all resources on crop inputs and agronomics,” the company said. “We are very excited about the direction of production agriculture and Advanced Agronomics.”

Under the Advanced Agronomy banner, the company’s services include storage capacity for both dry and liquid fertilizer products; four Certified Crop Advisors; custom applicators and GPS application equipment; grid sampling and variable rate applications; crop scouting; and a full line of seed varieties and crop protection products, including inoculants, fungicides, and insecticide seed treatments.

The transition involves no personnel changes at the business, a company source told Green Markets, and future plans are to expand its agronomy services in the area. In a recent letter to customers, the company touted Fairview Mills as a “very good family owned business that will be a good fit for our long-time grain customers.”

Advanced Agronomics said storage obligations and all contracts with White Cloud Grain will now be assumed by Fairview Mills. “Our management feels that Fairview Mills can offer our customers more opportunities for grain marketing than we can,” the letter said.

Growmark has reported estimated, unaudited net income of $134 million (before patronage) on sales of $4.2 billion for the year ending Aug. 31, 2007. Both are all-time records. “Our wholesale businesses that provide seed, plant food, crop protection products, grain systems, and energy products and services, all produced strong results,” said Vice President of Finance Jeff Solberg. “Additionally, Growmark retail business units now comprise over $1 billion, or 25 percent, of sales.” Prior year audited net income was $73.5 million (before patronage) on sales of $3.6 billion.

More than $92 million in patronage refunds will be returned to member cooperatives. Growmark said this is the first time in nearly three decades that it has distributed patronage refunds from all of its major product divisions. Likewise, it will be the largest patronage refund in history.

Growmark said its agronomy division generated record income at the wholesale level, and that plant food volumes moved at record levels due to increased corn acres and higher market share.

Growmark FS (GFS), the retail agronomy subsidiary in the Northeast, projects pretax income of $3.5 million on record sales of $145 million. Growmark said the unit has made strategic acquisitions of competitors’ facilities that have allowed for enhanced market share and the consolidation of plants. Three large retail plants were rebuilt at Bridgeton, N.J., and Laurel and Milford, Del., within the past 18 months. The Bridgeton facility, with 6,000 st of storage, replaced two nearby locations. Laurel has a new blending plant and 6,000 st of storage capacity. Milford added 8,000 st of capacity to its existing 20,000 st. Steve Buckalew, Growmark vice president, eastern retail operations, told Green Markets that GFS is in the process of upgrading its entire system of some 40 locations over the next ten years.

Growmark seeds sales saw a 25 percent increase in sales, to a record $160 million for the year ?Çô despite a 10 percent drop in soybean sales. “The need to become a seed company was identified years ago as crop protection was migrating from the sprayer to the seed bag,” said Solberg. “Our seed business is growing rapidly as a result of our commitment to planning and follow-through.”

Growmark noted that Seedway, its largely vegetable seed business headquartered in Hall, NY, grew sales to record levels with the acquisition of Mixon Seeds in S.C. and Chesmore Seed in St. Joseph, Mo. Seedway projects pretax income of $2 million on sales of $72 million.

Growmark’s Energy Division posted its fourth consecutive record gross income, estimated at $130 million, up $30 million over 2006. Refined fuels volume was up, driven by strong growth in sales, particularly from our premium product, Dieselex gold. Propane recorded record volume in 2007, as well.

Growmark sales of FS branded lubricant products, as well as the United and Archer brands, tripled over last year.

UPI Inc., the Ontario-based energy company jointly owned by Growmark and Suncor Energy Products Inc., continued to deliver excellent results as approximately 100 million gallons of fuel were sold this year, Solberg reported.

The cooperative’s Facility Planning and Supply Division also posted a record year. “Strong demand for grain storage has tripled our grain systems sales in just three years and the volume through the Growmark Tank and Truck Center shows eight consecutive years of sales growth,” Solberg said.

Total Grain Management (TGM), a partnership between Growmark, Effingham-Clay Service Company, and Wabash Valley Service Co., had its first successful year. The organization will market nearly 50 million bushels of grain from 21 locations.

A new joint venture with Illinois Farm Bureau incorporates the services of AgriVisor, LLC into Growmark. “This venture brings marketing advice and enhanced risk management to producers. New premium subscription services will soon be added and AgriVisor will introduce a number of new generation contracts that give farmers the opportunity to manage risk while improving the upside potential for profits,” Solberg said.

Growmark’s subsidiary, Mid-Co. Commodities Inc., which offers commodity hedging and advisory services to member cooperatives and their producers through the Bloomington, Ill., and Des Moines, Iowa, offices, and to farmers through branch offices at country elevators, will generate record income in 2007. Mid-Co will again pay patronage to its members, he said. “Mid-Co is a leader in commodity hedging and information services. This has been an extremely volatile year, with grain prices following the increased demand for more corn for ethanol production and protein demands around the world. Mid-Co managed the volatility and performed well,” Solberg said.

“The Growmark System is 80 years old,” note Solberg. “In the lifespan of any corporation, this is a very long time,” Solberg said. “In the early life of the System, our leaders identified important principles that would need to be followed to ensure long-term success. By remaining true to those principles, our System has not only survived, but continues to thrive.”

CHS Inc. detailed more of its management changes in connection with the transition of Agriliance’s crop nutrients business to CHS’s Ag Business division. The transition will be completed in September, according to an earlier announcement from CHS, and the business will be organized around four core operating groups consisting of sales, product management, operations, and facilities.

CHS and its joint venture partner in Agriliance, Land O’Lakes Inc., announced on June 21 that they were repositioning two business segments of Agriliance, with the crop nutrients wholesale distribution business going to CHS and the crop protection products business going to LOL (GM June 25, p. 1).

As was reported earlier (GM Aug. 6, p. 9), Cheryl Schmura, former Agriliance vice president and chief financial officer, will lead the business as vice president, crop nutrients. Reporting directly to her will be Tim Chrislip, director, product management; Cathy Eckman, director, operations; and David Klima, director, facilities. The director of sales, yet to be named, will also report directly to Schmura.

Chrislip will be responsible for all supplier relationships, position and risk management, and business development. Reporting to him will be the product management team, including Burnie Baker, Jim Carlson, Jeff Greseth, Larry Klegin, Mike Meether, and Lisa Solberg. Luis Dowling will also report to Chrislip and will focus on the identification and exploration of expansion and partnering opportunities.

Eckman’s role directing the daily management of all business operations will include efforts to streamline operations, reduce re-work, and enhance productivity. Some of this productivity, Schmura said in a recent memo to employees, will come through coordination of business activities with other key CHS divisions. “We have a wealth of expertise within CHS that can enhance our operations,” she said.

Included in the company’s sales division will be the field sales force currently in place, combined with the National Account Sales division headed by Joe Myhra, the Industrial Sales position formerly held by Karin Nystrom, and the Retail Sales position currently held by Frank Edwards.

“Ours will be a strategy of growth and we will rely on this selling team to provide the reach to customers who are in need of the many services we can provide,” Schmura said. “We will be adding selected positions to our field sales force in the coming months, as well as complementing that field coverage with representation from the CPP account managers who are transferring to Land O’ Lakes. I am excited about this revitalized focus on the customer and the value we can bring to the marketplace.”

The company’s facilities management team, under Klima’s direction, will look for opportunities to expand geographically and ensure efficiency at operating facilities, Schmura said.

Doug Wonnacott, Agriliance’s vice president of crop nutrients, has decided to pursue other interests and will end his employment with Agriliance on Aug. 31. He will continue in a consulting capacity, however, and will provide transitional assistance during the coming weeks. Also leaving on Aug. 31 is Brian Thoma, Agriliance’s crop nutrients business director, who joined the company in November 2006. CHS’s earlier management announcement had listed both Wonnacott and Thoma as part of the new team, with Wonnacott originally in charge of supply and Thoma heading up product and risk management.

Wonnacott joined Agriliance in 2003 as vice president, supply. CHS said over the past several years, his responsibilities have included fertilizer procurement, agricultural chemicals procurement, manufacturing, logistics, facilities, proprietary agricultural chemicals, business development, and Canadian retail. In addition, he has played a central role in positioning the CN business of Agriliance as a key importer of products from around the globe. This sourcing strategy has enabled CN to maintain its competitive edge in today’s market, said CHS.

“I firmly believe we have a unique opportunity to position this business as the driving force in the crop nutrients arena,” Schmura said in the memo. “Our suppliers and our customers demand that of us and it will take each one of us, working as a team, to make it happen.”

Schmura also said that, under CHS ownership, the crop nutrients business “will benefit from the company’s capabilities in logistics, distribution, risk management and global trading. This is an incredibly exciting time for all of us, as we come together as a new team, with strong leadership and a new business approach.”

Still uncertain is the future of Agriliance’s retail agronomy business. CHS and LOL announced on July 11 that they were exploring alternatives for that segment as well, and were in exclusive negotiations for the sale of The Agronomy Company of Canada, ProSource One, and the Agriliance retail locations in the southern U.S. (GM July 16, p. 1) The negotiations are reportedly with a group that includes certain former members of Agriliance’s management team, along with financial backers.