Agri-AFC, GreenPoint AG, and Tennessee Farmers Cooperative Join Forces to Create Top 7 Agronomy Business
Agri-AFC, GreenPoint AG, and the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s wholesale agronomy business have announced the formation of a joint venture combining their agronomy operations. The combination will include all operations of Agri-AFC, LLC’s wholesale and retail business, GreenPoint AG’s retail business, and Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s wholesale agronomy business. The new venture will do business under the name GreenPoint AG.
The combined GreenPoint AG is owned by three parent companies: Alabama Farmers Cooperative (AFC), Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC), and WinField United.
It will operate 99 retail and wholesale agronomy locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas, servicing 11 crops across 28 million acres. This will make the combined GreenPoint AG a top seven wholesale and retail agronomy company with over $1 billion in sales.
TFC is ranked No. 9 in the 2019 CropLife 100 list of the largest U.S. ag retailers. GreenPoint AG is ranked No. 12 and Agri-AFC is ranked No. 21.
“We recognize the rich history of our companies and the pride of ownership that exists amongst our member-owners, and we want to enter this relationship with careful thought and consideration of the impact to our farmer-owners, our customers, our member co-ops and our employees,” says Bart Krisle, CEO of Tennessee Farmers Cooperative.
When asked why the parent companies decided to join these three businesses together, Rivers Myres, CEO of Alabama Farmers Cooperative shared, “Even though we are all individually strong, it takes vision and strategic leadership to both remain competitive and to provide exceptional service to our ultimate customer, the American farmer, and GreenPoint AG will allow for us to do both.”
Jeff Blair has been selected to lead the new entity as CEO. He comes to Greenpoint AG most recently from The Andersons, where he was President of the Plant Nutrient Group. Previous to that role, he held leadership roles at Intrepid Potash, Orica Mining Services, and was a Captain in the U.S. Army.
“I could not be more excited for this opportunity,” said Blair. “The leadership teams of all three companies have built strong businesses and I believe this new company is the right company, with the right people and the right strategy to help our farmer and retail members succeed in this ever-changing world.”
Brett Bruggeman, President of WinField United and Executive Vice President of Land O’Lakes, Inc., agrees that the timing is perfect for this type of opportunity. “This organization is positioned for future growth and will be relevant in the marketplace for years to come. GreenPoint AG will be focused on upstream market access predictability and downstream total agronomy solutions, both driven by our digital omnichannel platform.”
GreenPoint AG will be based in Decatur, AL, with regional offices in Memphis and LaVergne, TN.