Wilbur-Ellis Co. announced April 28 that it had purchased the assets of Premier Ag LLC, a full-service fertilizer, seed, and crop protection products retailer headquartered in Dalhart, Texas, and co-owned by Cargill and Sunray Co-op.
The transaction, which closed April 28, includes Premier Ag locations at Sunray, Texas, and Hugoton, Kan. Brent Clark, Premier Ag’s general manager, will stay on in that capacity as the three locations become part of Wilbur-Ellis’s Southwest Business Unit. Clark will report to Phil Sullins, Wilbur-Ellis’s West Texas area manager.
“Joining Premier’s business with our existing operations in West Texas has great potential,” said John Thacher, Wilbur-Ellis president and CEO. “The quality of their employees, led by an experienced manager like Brent Clark, combined with the additional resources that Wilbur-Ellis brings to them, will benefit both organizations.”
Clark told Green Markets that all 19 of Premier Ag’s employees will be making the transition to Wilbur-Ellis. “I am very excited about the opportunity to work for Wilbur-Ellis,” he added. “Wilbur-Ellis’s focus is on employees and customers, and wants to keep our business running as smooth as possible through the transition.”
Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Wilbur-Ellis is a leading marketer and distributor of agricultural products, animal feed, and specialty chemicals and ingredients throughout North America and Asia. The company has annual sales in excess of $2 billion, and its Agribusiness Division has more than 135 locations throughout the U.S. Wilbur-Ellis’s locations in Texas alone number more than 20.
“We have known the Wilbur-Ellis people in our market for several years and feel strongly that they share our attitude about providing high levels of service to customers,” said David Reinders, Sunray’s general manager and chairman of Premier Ag. Sunray is a farmer-owned cooperative in the Texas Panhandle, with total grain elevator capacity of more than 20 million bushels at locations in Sunray, Etter, Coldwater, Conlen, Gruver, and Capps Switch. “There will be many opportunities to capitalize on (Wilbur-Ellis’s) considerable resources to allow our patrons broader product offerings and expanded services,” Reinders added.
Premier sells about 75,000 tons annually of both liquid and dry fertilizer out of its three locations, with irrigated corn growers among its many customers. “The geography served by Premier provides us with a natural extension of the market that we now serve in West Texas,” said Steven Dietze, Wilbur-Ellis’s vice president and southwest business unit manager. “We feel that bringing this business together with ours will be good for both organizations.”