Fertilizer retailer Agrico’s farm centre at Belleville in south-central Ontario has switched management to the centre’s new joint owner, Northumberland Grain.
Agrico has managed the Belleville Farm Centre since 1967, when it opened the facility as the first 100 per cent company-owned retail outlet it built in Canada.
As of Monday (Jan. 4), Brighton-based Northumberland assumes management of the Belleville facility, giving its customers access to Northumberland’s grain elevator and marketing service.
Founded as an elevator company in 1980, Northumberland is a 50/50 partnership between founders Dexter and Karen Harder and Agrico Canada. Agrico and the Harders had each held a 33 per cent stake in Northumberland since 1996 and bought out partner Ben Currelly in 2005.
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Through this agreement, Agrico Belleville customers will also get “increased access to custom application services and the latest agronomic technology,” Agrico said Monday.
“We know this new arrangement will benefit our growers; we can now offer a wider range of services, including the addition of grain marketing,” Belleville facility manager Barry Cooper said in Agrico’s release.
“The present staff is looking forward to working with Karen and Dexter Harder and expect the only visible change will be the name,” Cooper said.
“Northumberland Grain will now have access to rail siding as well, which is going to benefit customers at all our locations,” Northumberland president Dexter Harder said in the same release, noting the site also has room to expand operations.
Agrico described the move as “one more step in reaching the company’s goal of joint-venturing all (Agrico’s) company-owned farm centres.”
