Palmerston grain buyer changes hands

Thursday, September 4, 2014

By JIM ALGIE

A Chatham-based farm supply and grain dealer, South West Ag Partners Inc., has acquired Palmerston Grain Ltd. for an undisclosed price at least partly to expand business among farmers in central and eastern Ontario.

The deal closed Thursday, continuing Palmerston Grain general manager Archie Wilson said in an interview. It keeps in place all 13 current employees of Palmerston Grain including those who are also members of the founding McLaughlin family. A related but separate, Palmerston-based company, C & M Seeds, is also owned by McLaughlin family members.

C & M seeds specializes in seed production and marketing and will remain in the hands of the McLaughlin family, a recent press release quoting officials of both companies said.

In addition to continuing responsibilities at Palmerston Grain, Wilson is to remain with C & M Seeds as that company’s general manager during what he described as an unspecified “transition period.”

“I don’t want to start saying specific timing in case I’m wrong,” Wilson said. He declined to speak about financial details of the sale of Palmerston Grain which buys wheat, corn, soybeans and canola from area growers directly and through a network of partners. As well, the company merchandises wheat purchased from commercial elevators across Ontario, Wilson said.

Palmerston Grain assets include elevator facilities in Minto Township with 2.1 million bushels in storage capacity, identity preserved capabilities and grain handling technology.

“The employees are staying where they are,” Wilson said by phone from Palmerston. “No employees are jumping across lines because of the transaction,” he said.

South West Ag Partners general manager Paul Hazzard described the acquisition in a statement as “a great fit for us.” The move expands the Chatham-based company’s customer base particularly for risk management tools and “consultative” services to “more of Ontario’s progressive farmers,” Hazzard said. Both companies share common values, “are committed to the ag industry” and care about their “customers, employees and the local farm community,” said John McLaughlin in the statement, speaking on behalf of family shareholders.

Wilson described the sale as “a good opportunity for all involved.”

“The shareholders wanted to make sure for our customers, our farmers and elevator customers that deal with us and our end user customers, that this was a positive for them,” Wilson said.

Palmerston Grain was founded in 1983 by Norris McLaughlin, his sons, Jim and John McLaughlin, and daughter, Anne Schneider, who are also involved in family farming operations. Norris McLaughlin has since retired from the business, information on a corporate website says.

The sale of Palmerston Grain follows a period of unusual, grain trade turbulence. Wilson described increasing business complexity as part of the rationale for Thursday’s deal.

“When the shareholders looked at it we realized that the grain business world is changing,” Wilson said. “You want to make sure you’re positioned right to meet the needs of all your customers.”

“I look at that and I’m saying the world is becoming a little more complicated and sophisticated for sure,” Wilson said. “Having the right partners to work with that can bring the right solutions for all the partners and employees is important,” he said.

“There is no doubt that the sophistication, the volatility and access to information makes it a much quicker and more dynamic business than it once was,” Wilson said.

South West Ag Partners Inc. formed through a merger of St. Clair Agra-Services and Kent County Fertilizers Ltd., a company website says. Since 2001 the company has provided farmers with services and products from a network of 10 elevators and retail outlets in southwestern Ontario.

C & M Seeds formed in 1978 and specializes in the development and marketing of seed varieties, primarily hard and soft, winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, oats and soybeans. A corporate website identifies current owners of C & M Seeds as Anne Schneider, John and Jim McLaughlin. The company established elevators and seed processing facilities near Palmerston on land once farmed by founders Norris and Eila McLaughlin, the C & M website says. BF