Photo courtesy of HighLine Grain Growers.
According to the Capital Press, Central Washington Grain Growers Inc. of Waterville, Davenport Union Warehouse Co., Odessa Union Warehouse Co-Op and Reardan Grain Growers Inc. have agreed to purchase Almira Farmers Warehouse Co. on April 1 to form HighLine Grain Growers Inc.
“HighLine Grain focuses on delivering value to our patrons through the products and services we provide, while delivering competitive market access and opportunities for the crops they produce,” Paul Katovich, general manager of Central Washington Grain Growers Inc. and soon-to-be chief executive officer of HighLine Grain Growers Inc., told the Capital Press.
The grain cooperatives have worked together for several years, having joined forces in 2013 to create HighLine Grain LLC as a way to combine trading operations and logistics. At that time, the cooperatives built a 2 million bushel, 110-car rail loading and unloading elevator at Four Lakes, Washington, U.S.
Katovich, who is CEO of HighLine Grain LLC, told the Capital Press that the unification of HighLine Grain LLC is “the next natural step” in the cooperatives’ efforts to meet a variety of challenges in the marketplace.
“Being unified will allow us to be as efficient as possible in these efforts while enhancing our ability to reach up the value chain whenever and wherever we can,” he said.
Katovich added that HighLine Seed and Special Services will allow the company to expand “top flight” testing programs.
“HighLine will streamline harvest by managing speed and space in ways that were unavailable to the individual partners,” he said. “Economies of scale will allow us to compartmentalize tasks, increase our buying and selling power and provide research that concentrates on our region.”
