Wilco Farmers Co-op, a grower-owned agricultural cooperative headquartered in Mt. Angel, Ore., has purchased two cooperatives at the north end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, including the fertilizer, chemical, and seed supply business of Pacific Harvest Supply Co., based in Cornelius, Ore.
The deal, which took effect Jan. 2, also includes the Cornelius-based Dutch Country Mercantile, which offers livestock feed and supplies, pet products, and some lawn and garden supplies. Both Pacific Harvest and Dutch Country were owned by Jeff and Laura Duyck. The Duycks started Pacific Harvest in 1985 as an offshoot of their family farm, and purchased Dutch Country in 2004.
The agronomy and seed services of the newly acquired businesses will be operated by Wilco-Agriliance LLC, a joint venture company formed in 2006 between Wilco and Minnesota-based Agriliance. A Dec. 22 letter from the Duycks and Wilco CEO Doug Hoffman told customers and the 22 employees of Pacific Harvest and Dutch Country that it will be “business as usual” under the new owners.
According to local reports, the acquisition brings 1,000 Dutch Country customers and 1,100 Pacific Harvest customers to Wilco’s service area. Pacific Harvest has 15 employees and serves the north end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, specializing in fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, and lawn and garden supplies. A Wilco spokesman told The Hillsboro Argus that the company has wanted to be in or near the Cornelius area for some time to fill out its coverage of the Willamette Valley.
Wilco also recently announced that it is building a new liquid fertilizer plant at its Mt. Angel Agronomy Center, which it referred to as “the first step in a complete upgrade in all our facilities.” As part of the new acquisition, Wilco said it plans to build a full-size retail store within 12-18 months at the Dutch Country location in Cornelius.
Wilco touts itself as the Pacific Northwest’s number one supply cooperative, serving more than 3,000 members in the Willamette Valley and Southwest Washington. The company has assets of more than $50 million and annual sales exceeding $140 million.
Wilco, which is short for Willamette Consolidated, was formed in 1967 with the merger of five Willamette Valley cooperatives. Subsequent mergers added Farmers Oil Co., Woodburn, Ore., in 1989, and West Valley Farmers, McMinnville, Ore., in 1996, which expanded the co-op’s service area west of the Willamette River to the four-county Mid-Willamette area.
Wilco expanded again in 2000 with the purchase of Eugene Farmers Cooperative, CHS Supply and Marketing in Tangent, Ore., and Harrisburg Ag Center, combining all agronomy activities of that merger in the Harrisburg, Ore., location. One year later, Wilco purchased Valley Lime of Gervais, Ore., and in 2004 purchased the Cenex Harvest States Supply retail farm store operations in Battle Ground, Wash. Wilco also acquired the Washington Agronomy Center at Chehalis, Wash., in January 2006, extending its service area 100 miles north of the Oregon/Washington border.
Wilco Agronomy currently has six locations, at Whiteson, Donald, Harrisburg, Mt. Angel, Stayton, and Chehalis, which provide a full line of agronomy products and services and employ 11 full-time agronomists. The company’s agronomy sites offer commercial quantities of custom-blended dry fertilizer, liquid fertilizer products, and a complete line of agricultural chemicals. Wilco also partners with Harvest Geographics, Canby, Ore., to offer GPS technology and precision agriculture services to its customers.
Including its retail farm stores, petroleum stations, and fuel delivery services, Wilco also operates Oregon facilities in Newberg, Oregon City, Silverton, and Canby.