by Whitney Flach
Cargill Inc., the U.S. agricultural giant, is selling a string of farm retail stores in the corn belt to farming input seller and distributor, Agrium Inc. Calgary-based Agrium, is North America’s largest retail seller of crop inputs with over 1,400 facilities selling seed, fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and pesticides. The sale between the Cargill and Agrium, is 18 retail crop locations in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The companies said in a statement Wednesday, that the locations have annual revenues exceeding $150 million. The sale, which does not involve Cargill’s Canadian crop input retail business, is anticipated to close after regulatory review, by the end of the third quarter. The group leader of Cargill’s North American agricultural supply chain, Roger Watchorn, said that privately held ?Cargill will focus on being the world’s leading merchant of grain and oilseeds.? Agrium CEO Chuck Magro said, “This acquisition demonstrates our continued focus on growing our North American Ag-retail business, particularly in the highly desirable U.S. Corn Belt,” Magro continued on by explaining “The locations are in regions where we currently have a limited presence.” The Agrium deal, follows at least nine other announced or reported divestment’s by Cargill in the past two years.
