Lucknow Co-op Celebrates New State-Of-the Art Fertilizer Plant

LUCKNOW, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 25, 2014) - New efficiencies in fertilizer blending was the hot topic of conversation yesterday at Lucknow District Co-operative's grand opening of its new Layco declining weight blend fertilizer facility.

The new blending system is a big improvement for farmers in the area bringing greater efficiencies in everything from more storage capacity, faster loading and receiving times, and superior customized blending abilities.

Allan Scott, Lucknow District Co-operative general manager says this type of facility is quite new to Ontario. "The blender operation is level to the ground making for a more efficient and economical operational flow, that will ultimately provide added value for our members," says Scott.

The blending system is housed in a new 90' x 140' facility that can handle up to 11 products incorporated into one blend compared to only three products in a mix with the co-operative's previous system. "Speed is a huge advantage," says the co-operative's agronomy manager Blair Morrison. "With our old system, we would blend about 350T a day, whereas with this facility, we are able to produce 120T per hour, giving us more time to be face-to-face with our customers!"

The site now has additional unloading points, and a new 90 ft. weigh platform making inbound and outbound flow more fluid, reducing wait times for trucks entering the yard.

Scott says he knew the co-op was on to bigger and better things when it bought 40 more acres of land two years ago, allowing for expansion and growth. At that same time, Lucknow Co-op also took a bold move and transitioned to a fully integrated accounting system that tracks everything in one system such as field mapping, agronomic planning and custom blending records. "Our new blending facility will become an integral part of a much more efficient system," says Scott.

The grand opening (meet & greet) had excellent attendance from the local community wanting to show support for the co-op's new initiative. Tours and demonstrations of the fertilizer blender facility went on throughout the day and guests were treated to a BBQ lunch.

Lucknow District Co-operative Inc., is in its 70^th year of business providing its farmer-owners and rural residents of Huron and Bruce Counties with livestock feed, agronomy and petroleum products and services, consumer goods, including hardware and clothing and offers customers AIR MILES^® reward miles on qualifying purchases. Lucknow District Co-operative Inc. is a shareholder-owner of GROWMARK, Inc and markets products and services under the FS banner.

^® Trademark of AIR MILES International Trading B.V. Used under licence by Loyalty Management Group Canada, Inc. and the LUCKNOW DISTRICT CO-OP INC.