WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA — Richardson International Ltd. acquired Agland Seed and Chemical Ltd., a retail crop inputs location in the community of La Crete, Alberta, Canada. The transaction closed on Feb. 19.

“With Ag Business Centres throughout the Peace River region of Alberta, the La Crete location will complement our existing Richardson Pioneer network,” said Tom Hamilton, vice-president of agribusiness operations at Richardson. “Richardson International is dedicated to building relationships in the communities in which we do business. We look forward to building relationships with producers in the area and providing them with leading seed, fertilizer and crop protection technologies, in addition to year-round support with our CropWatch agronomy team supported by our leading edge CropMatrix platform.”

Richardson identified La Crete as a gap within the Richardson Pioneer crop inputs network in Western Canada.

“We are very happy to announce this transaction,” said George Unrau, co-owner of Agland Seed and Chemical. “We share the same community and business values with Richardson Pioneer. We know that under the Richardson Pioneer umbrella, we will be able to not only continue to provide the excellent service our customers have grown to know, but we will be able to expand our offerings for customers, giving them the best possible products and services.”

This is the most recent expansion of Richardson Pioneer’s retail crop inputs network. In July 2018, Richardson announced the addition of a new, full-service facility in Delisle, located southwest of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The location is expected to be operational for the 2019 season.

Agland Seed and Chemical Ltd. is an established business in La Crete and with the completion of the transaction, all of its employees became part of the Richardson Pioneer team.

Richardson Pioneer is a division of Richardson International, a Canadian agribusiness. A global company in agriculture and food processing, Richardson is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and is a vertically-integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. Richardson has more than 2,600 employees across Canada, the United States and the U.K.