AGRIS Co-operative expands service offerings and input capacity in Essex area

COTTAM, Ontario, Nov. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AGRIS Co-operative farmer-owners benefit from a capital investment of more than $1.0 million for ongoing expansion plans in the Essex area.

“Our board of directors has approved a significant storage expansion at our Cottam facility with an additional capacity of 1000 MT of UAN,” says Adrian VanDyk, AGRIS Co-operative operations manager. Construction is underway with a planned completion date of Dec. 10.

“Our growth plans include a crop protection warehouse that will increase storage for bulk and packaged products and additional investment to increase seed treatment and storage capacity,” says John Nooyen, AGRIS Co-operative board president. “The board has confidence in the overall growth of the co-op and its ongoing commitment to investing and anticipating the future needs of our customers and farmer-owners.”

Over the past several years, AGRIS has made major investments in dry fertilizer storage and blending capacity. The UAN storage capacity alone has tripled. Investments to increase grain intake speed and overall storage capacity in the Essex area has quadrupled. “We recognize that the faster our customers can get what they need, when they need it; the more time they can spend on growing and expanding their farm operations,” says Alex Michinski, AGRIS Co-operative Essex area manager.

AGRIS Co-operative recently celebrated the grand re-opening of its Wheatley elevator. “Putting the Wheatly elevators back online has exceeded our expectations for intake this year. It shows that the market needed the additional receiving capacity for grain,” says Don Kabbes, Great Lakes Grain general manager.

AGRIS Co-operative Ltd. is a 100 per-cent farmer-owned grain marketing and farm-input supply company that serves more than 1,000 farmer-owners in 14 locations in Essex, Kent, Elgin, Middlesex and Lambton Counties. It is a leader in precision farming technology, seed, agronomy and petroleum services. The co-­operative is a partner of Great Lakes Grain, a grain merchandising company. AGRIS Co-operative is a member-owner of GROWMARK, Inc. and markets products and services under the FS banner.

Media Contacts: