Growmark, Bloomington, Ill., has recorded several tuck-in acquisitions during the first-half ending Feb. 28, 2019. The company acquired a majority interest in Gratiot Agricultural Professional Services (GAPS), Ithaca, Mich., in November. Now operated as GAPS FS, it has five locations serving farmers in 16 central Michigan counties.
Growmark acquired three companies in northwest Iowa in October: Greenleaf Agronomy LLC, Royal; Northwest Ag Supply, Hartley; and Spencer Agronomy Services, Ruthven. The three combined to form Growmark FS Midwest, a new Growmark retail division headquartered in Hartley.
Growmark’s Seedway subsidiary, based in Hall, N.Y., acquired Skipper Grassing Inc., Fort Meade, Fla., in November, and the vegetable seed business of Champion Seed, Elsworth, Iowa, in September.
While Growmark has not released first-half 2019 results, full-year 2018 net income attributable to Growmark was $62.4 million on net sales of $8.52 billion for the year ending Aug. 31, 2018, down from 2017’s $108.8 million and $7.3 billion, respectively. Total patronage refunds were $63.6 million, up from 2017’s $59 million. While cash refunds were up at $45.1 million from $39.6 million, stock was off at $18.5 million from $19.4 million.
Total Crop Nutrient sales volumes were down at 3.1 million st for the year from 2017’s 3.4 million st. Crop Nutrient sales were $622 million, with record volumes and income reported.
On the Retail side of the business, the company put crop nutrient sales at 981,000 st, up from 61,000 st in 2017. Crop protection sales were $159.6 million, up $7.4 million from the prior year. Propane sales were 98.3 million gallons, up 30 million gallons from 2017 due to colder weather.
In the Seed segment, the company said income continued to be strong, with some 4.7 million plant acres of system-supported corn and soybeans.
Growmark said 2018 was impacted by the effects of Hurricane Harvey, depressed commodity prices, a rising interest rate environment, trade concerns, and wet weather causing application delays and late planting across the upper Midwest and East Coast.