Grain handler Richardson Pioneer has moved to shore up its presence in northern Alberta’s crop input market with a deal for a Peace-region dealership.
Winnipeg-based Richardson announced Wednesday it has bought Agland Seed and Chemical at La Crete, Alta., about 320 km north of Peace River.
The deal, which closed Tuesday, will see all of Agland’s staff become Richardson Pioneer employees. Financial terms aren’t being released.
“We know that under the Richardson Pioneer umbrella, we will be able to not only continue to provide the excellent service our customers have grown to know, but we will be able to expand our offerings for customers, giving them the best possible products and services,” Agland co-owner George Unrau said in a Richardson release.
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Richardson said Wednesday it had previously identified the La Crete area as “a gap within the Richardson Pioneer crop inputs network” on the Prairies.
The Agland location is expected to “complement” Richardson’s nearest ag business centre in High Level, about 100 km northwest of La Crete. Richardson has operated at High Level since 2013, when it bought the former Viterra facility there.
“We look forward to building relationships with producers in the area and providing them with leading seed, fertilizer and crop protection technologies, in addition to year-round support with our CropWatch agronomy team supported by our leading edge CropMatrix platform,” Tom Hamilton, Richardson’s vice-president for agribusiness operations, said in the same release.
The company’s CropMatrix agronomic platform, launched in 2017, is used by Richardson representatives and farmer customers to analyze farms’ yield data and product performance information. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
