American grain and energy co-operative CHS Inc. is increasing its presence in the Canadian farm retail market.
The farmer-owned co-op announced March 17 that it will acquire 16 Canadian ag retail locations from Crop Production Services (CPS), a subsidiary of Calgary-based fertilizer company Agrium Inc.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but a CHS news release said the CPS locations involved in the deal are located in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The deal is expected to be complete by April 1.
“We look forward to expanding our ability to serve farmers and ranchers in Canada, and to being a strong partner in their communities,” said John McEnroe, executive vice-president of CHS’s country operations division.
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“Our goal is always to add value for our customers through local experts with global connections.”
CHS is a global agribusiness with headquarters in St Paul, Minnesota.
It supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain marketing services, animal feed, food and food ingredients and insurance, financial and risk management services.
The company also operates petroleum refineries and pipelines and manufactures, markets and distributes Cenex brand refined fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products.
The company reported net income of nearly $1 billion (US) on revenues of $44.5 billion last year.
It marketed more than two billion bushels of grain in 2013.
Ag retail sales in 2012 were reported at $7.4 billion.
This is not CHS’s first foray into the Canadian market.
In 2012, in anticipation of a deregulated grain market, the company opened it first Canadian grain marketing office in Winnipeg.
The company also announced an agreement in 2012 with Alberta based farm retail company DynAgra Corp., which has offices in Beiseker, Carseland, Standard and Rolling Hills, Alta.
According to CHS, the acquisition of 16 farm retail operations from Agrium will allow CHS to distribute more product from a new 42,000-tonne fertilizer plant now under construction near Shelby, Montana, about 160 kilometres south of Lethbridge and 50 km south of the Canada-U.S. border.
Last year, Agrium became the largest crop input supplier in Western Canada when it acquired more than 200 crop retail locations from Viterra.
