Green Valley Agriculture Inc., a full-service ag retail business with four locations in Michigan, was acquired by Crop Production Services (CPS) on Jan. 2. Green Valley has more than 60 employees, all of whom will be staying in their present positions under CPS ownership.
CPS is based in Loveland, Colo., and was formerly the retail business unit of Agrium Inc. Following the recent completion of Agrium’s merger with PotashCorp of Saskatchewan Inc. (GM Jan. 5, p. 1) to form Nutrien Ltd., CPS is now a unit of Nutrien and is operated by Nutrien Retail.
“Crop Production Services is pleased to welcome the Green Valley Agriculture staff and outlets to the CPS team,” said Richard Downey, vice president, Investor and Corporate Relations, for Nutrien. “The former owners will remain heavily involved in the business.”
Green Valley has Michigan retail locations at Moline/Wayland, Hamilton, Bangor, and West Olive, offering a full line of seed products, liquid and dry fertilizers, and custom application services to vegetable, fruit, and rowcrop growers in southwestern Michigan. The company was founded in 1989 by John Christian and a father-and-son farming operation known as Golden Grain Farms. Mark Edema became involved as a partner in 1995, with Christian and Edema buying out the other partners in 2001.
Green Valley ranked 85th on CropLife’s 2017 list of the 100 largest agronomy retailers in the U.S., with annual revenues broken down as 55 percent fertilizer, 20 percent crop protection, 19 percent seed, and 6 percent custom application. Green Valley was also a 2015 winner of the Environmental Respect Awards, which noted the environmental features of the company’s newest retail facility constructed in 2014 in Wayland.
CPS holds the top spot on the CropLife list, with approximately 19 percent of the U.S. crop input retail market and more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The company continues to quietly expand its retail presence with “tuck-ins” and greenfield expansions (GM Dec. 8, 2017). Agrium said it added approximately 250 independent retailers to CPS in the past five years, and reported in November (GM Nov. 22, 2017) that it has some $400-$500 million to spend on additional retail acquisitions.
Agrium also noted in November that it has new greenfield CPS locations in operation in Reading, Mich., and Milford, Ind., as well as a pipeline of some 12 greenfield retail projects in the works. The company reported in August that it hopes to grow its 19 percent retail market share to the mid-20s, and eventually past the 30 percent mark (GM Aug. 11, 2017).