United Prairie to acquire Northern Illinois Alliance

St. Paul. Minn.—CHS Inc. reported on Feb. 23 that United Prairie LLC, a full-service agronomic retailer serving farmers in central Illinois, will acquire Northern Illinois Alliance, a retail agronomy joint venture formed in 2013 (GM June 17, 2013) between CHS and Illinois-based Elburn Cooperative. The boards of both organizations recently voted in favor of the sale, which is expected to be finalized by March 1, 2016. “We are excited about bringing our two organizations together and building off of what each has started,” said Tim Hughes, United Prairie general manager. “It allows us to be most efficient with our current resources, as well as invest in even more precision ag products and technology because we can utilize those over a larger footprint.” Northern Illinois Alliance’s full service wholesale and retail fertilizer facility at Crescent City, Ill., has 30,000 ton of dry storage, 15,000 ton of liquid storage, and a 50-car rail siding, along with dry fertilizer blending services and 24-hour access for UAN-32 and UAN-28 loading. “Both Northern Illinois Alliance and United Prairie have similar approaches to meeting our customers’ needs, and we agree that doing what’s best for them is our first priority,” said Tim Gocken, Northern Illinois Alliance general manager. “Coming together allows us to combine valuable technology and resources so we can continue to help our growers optimize their yields season after season.” Formed in 1996, United Prairie serves the seed, fertilizer, and crop protection needs of central Illinois farmers from seven Illinois retail locations in Tolono, Emergy, Ivesdale, Pierson, White Heath, Dewey, and Jamaica. The business is owned by Premier Cooperative, Topflight Grain Inc., and CHS, which invested its central Illinois assets and became part of United Prairie’s ownership group in 2015. United Prairie’s acquisition of Northern Illinois Alliance coincides with the pending March 1 merger of CHS and Elburn Co-op, which was first announced last fall (GM Nov. 9, 2015) and approved by Elburn members in December (GM Dec. 21, 2015). Elburn has been in business since 1921, and currently operates as a full-service supplier of agronomy, feed, seed, energy, and grain marketing services from 12 locations in north-central Illinois and south-central Wisconsin. CHS said no interruption of service to customers is expected during the transition.