The largest independent agricultural wholesaler in eastern Canada is expanding into Chatham-Kent with an eye on continuing to grow its business even more in Ontario.
Burlington-based Sylvite Holdings finalized its purchase of the Agronomy Division of Thompsons Limited from The Andersons in December 2019 and, according to President and CEO Hugh Loomans, has no plans to scale back its local workforce.
Loomans said they will be keeping all of the current employees in place in Chatham-Kent and will even look at further expansion.
"Every single individual who is tied to farm services is now a Sylvite employee," said Loomans. "We've maintained or recognized seniority and we're very excited about all that."
Loomans said purchasing the agronomy division of Thompsons gives Sylvite more than 400 employees across the province in a variety of divisions including agriculture, transportation, industrial chemicals, and wholesale/retail farm fertilizer sales.
He added one of the driving forces behind the purchase is to ensure that Sylvite remains an independent company from Ontario.
"It allows us to really work with the farm community as sort of a family business basically," said Loomans. "It really puts us in a position where we can... no matter what happens in terms of consolidation... we've got a good base to survive."
A release from Sylvite in December said it will continue to share space and resources with The Andersons "to ensure a seamless transition for all grower customers".