A full-service crop input centre in Langbank, Sask., has switched ownership.
Parrish & Heimbecker bought the wooden elevator and retail outlet in southeastern Saskatchewan from Cargill Ltd.
It was a good fit with one of P & H’s other assets.
“We already had a presence in the area just out of Moosomin,” said P & H regional manager Tom Viczko.
The community needed the Langbank facility to stay open because P & H’s high throughput elevator in Moosomin sells only crop protection products and “dabbles” in fertilizer.
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“The customers were the real driver in the (purchase),” he said.
The Langbank outlet offers growers a full-service granular fertilizer operation with custom blending services, liquid fertilizers, canola and pedigreed bulk seed and crop protection products.
“(Cargill was) the last company to exit (the community). Those farmers were saying, ‘geez, now we really have nothing,’ ” said Viczko.
The purchase fits P & H’s strategy of becoming a vertically integrated grain company.
“Customers are demanding it,” he said.
“We are trying to become more of a one-stop shop where we have fertilizer, chemical, seed and all of those things.”
The Langbank elevator has a 6,200 tonne capacity, which is small by today’s standards, and a 25 to 30 rail car spot. P&H plans to eventually expand it to a 50 car spot.
“To be in the game today, I think the table stakes are basically you have to have a 50 car spot,” said Viczko.
He said the family owned company will consider making more of these types of crop input centre acquisitions as opportunities arise.
“If the opportunity is there, John Heimbecker is on record saying that this is certainly one of the areas that they want to go.”
