Two new regional Midwestern BioAg facilities, one in Ohio and the other in Illinois, will improve customer service and make more product locally available as Midwestern BioAg continues to grow and expand.
At Bellefontaine, Ohio, approximately 60 miles northwest of Columbus, the new BioAg facility includes 5,000 square feet of warehouse space and 2,500 square feet of office space. The warehouse provides on-site storage, improving product availability as well as serving as a clearinghouse for organizing small loads. The location includes storage for livestock mineral as well.
Another big advantage, says Ohio consultant Alan Kauffman, will be “better service and more convenience for customers to stop in and pick up products, with an easier in and out” than previously. “In the long run, a larger variety of products will be available here.”
The current Ohio team includes Kauffman, a seven-year Midwestern BioAg consultant, joined by sales consultants Victoria Buhr and Harrison Hobart, assistant operations manager April Burnett, and part-time delivery driver Ben Gantz. The office space will also be used for meetings, staff training, and webinars.
Equipment based out of the facility currently includes two spreader carts with plans to add a one-ton pickup and gooseneck trailer for deliveries. More equipment will be added in the future to better accommodate growing demand.
Construction of an all new, full-service facility got underway in July in Milledgeville, Illinois, with project completion set for fall. Located approximately 40 miles southwest of Rockford, Illinois, this new facility will include a 17,000-square-foot blending and storage building, a 4,800-square-foot shop, and a 1,500-square-foot office. “Milledgeville is a very ag-centered community with good road access in all directions” says local consultant Ben Adolph about why that location was chosen. “It will cut a lot of delivery time for customers who were previously serviced through Blue Mounds, Wisconsin.”
Fertilizer materials will be stored on-site for blends, and custom blending will be offered with bags, totes, and bulk-delivery options available for fertilizer products. Bagged livestock mineral will also be kept on hand in Milledgeville.
Existing Illinois consultants will work out of the new location. In addition to Adolph, that group includes Kyle Dionne, Matthew Busse, Mitchael Dunphy, and Mike Dietmeier.
Plans call for adding operations and office personnel as the facility comes on-line.
The new locations join the five existing Midwestern BioAg facilities:
- Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, is the current corporate headquarters for Midwestern BioAg. Built new in 2006, this facility boasts a 5,800-square-foot office building, a 36,000-square-foot warehouse, and a 17,000-square-foot, custom-built fertilizer building.
- In Monticello, Iowa, Midwestern BioAg’s 6,500-square-foot facility provides products and services to producers in Iowa and nearby Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas, as well as some areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
- The Kinde, Michigan, facility, originally established in 1999 as a Midwestern BioAg satellite, has served parts of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Canada for 15 years. Kinde is BioAg’s fertilizer blending and storage facility in the thumb of Michigan, and includes offices for staff.
- Utica, Minnesota, where construction of the facility began in 2002, originally had a 4,200-square-foot warehouse and distribution center plus a small office. Later, a 3,600-square-foot mineral shed and a 1,500-square-foot office building for staff and consultants were added onto the facility.
- The Black Creek, Wisconsin, sales and service center was established with the purchase of an existing building in the Black Creek Industrial Park in 2013. The office, shop, and warehouse facility is home to fertilizer staging, spreading equipment, and warehouse space for livestock nutrition and seed products.
Today, Midwestern BioAg serves over 4,100 customers on over 1 million acres in 29 states and three Canadian provinces. With new facilities in Ohio and Illinois and the capacity to service hundreds of thousands of additional farmland acres, the company looks forward to helping more farmers improve the yields, profits, and sustainability of their operations.