AgVentures LLC, a provider of farming supplies and services throughout the region, will soon be under new ownership.
The board of directors of Bay Lakes Companies LLC voted unanimously to approve an agreement that will sell its AgVentures LLC and Grain Ventures LLC businesses to Beaver Dam-based United Cooperative, according to a news release issued Sept. 21 by United Cooperative. The parties are scheduled to complete the sale in mid-October.
AgVentures is a full-service fertilizer, chemical and seed supplier which provides agronomy and farm technology services.
Grain Ventures has two grain facilities, one in Shawano and the other in Oconto Falls, with a combined storage capacity of 3.7 million bushels, receiving capacity of 33,000 bushel per hour and drying capacity of 8,180 bushel per hour. Their combined sales were in excess of $50 million in their fiscal year ending July 31.
AgVentures officials declined to comment about the sale, referring questions to United Cooperative.
In a news release, David Cramer, United Cooperative president and chief executive officer, said the cooperative is pleased to announce the sale after months of negotiations.
“United Cooperative currently operates facilities and serves customers in much of the same geography,” he stated. “We look forward to the efficiencies our combined operations will bring our customers in these areas.”
United Cooperative serves customers in this area from its Shawano, Pulaski, Gresham and Denmark facilities.
“We are not only buying a business, we are acquiring the opportunity to serve a broader range of quality producers and add new services to our existing offerings,” Cramer said, “and as a cooperative, United Cooperative returns its profits to it members, helping grow local economies throughout Wisconsin.”
Some farmers are unsure what to expect from the AgVentures takeover.
Russel Brock, a farmer in Maple Valley and a leader of the Oconto County Farm Bureau, said although United Cooperative is a good organization, he wonders if services will change when AgVentures’ local operations come under out-of-town ownership.
“Less competition is not better, I don’t think,” Brock said.
Wes Raddatz, the regional district coordinator for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, said farmers who do business with AgVentures might benefit from the deal because United Cooperative is a larger organization with the ability to improve services in the area.
“It could be a big deal,” Raddatz said. “United Cooperative is getting to be a larger and larger entity.”
According to its website, United Cooperative was created in 1936, and through numerous acquisitions and mergers now has more than 50 facilities throughout Wisconsin.
From its outlet at 660 E. Seward St. near the center of Shawano, United Cooperative offers feed, grain, and fuel products and services. The organization has recently undertaken a major redevelopment of its Shawano complex, constructing a state-of-the art feed mill and warehouse to offer improved feed, grain, agronomy and energy services to customers.
It was not immediately clear how AgVentures, a private corporation, would be combined with the Beaver Dam cooperative owned by some 30,000 members.
Adam Kuczer, a farmer near Pulaski and vice president of the Shawano County Farm Bureau, said he recalled when United Cooperative a few years ago acquired a small local cooperative of which he was a member. Kuczer said United Cooperative improved services and modernized facilities for area farmers.
Saying he was unsure what United Cooperative had planned with the AgVentures deal, Kuczer said it was understandable for farmers to be apprehensive about such a large organization taking over.
“They’re a much larger scale,” he said. “Is it good for our communities in the long run? That’s a good question.”
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