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Investing for the future
“ Our focus is on agricultural inputs, helping farmers get crops in the ground and bring in a good harvest. My role sits on the agriculture retail side of the business, where I handle operations throughout the US with a direct line to all our hubs as well as freight logistics and transportation. Additionally, I have indirect oversight of what we call freedom to operate functions, which include things like safety, environmental compliance and driver standards. We make sure those are applied consistently across every part of the business, whether or not they fall under my direct line of supervision,” Heather begins.
Over its 105-year long history, Wilbur- Ellis has built a legacy that few agricultural businesses can match, facilitated by the Wilbur family’ s long-term commitment to the North American agricultural industry. Of course, agriculture is not an easy business; it has its ups and downs, and the past few years have been particularly tough for those connected to the industry. Nonetheless, family ownership has consistently allowed the company to take the longer view and has been paramount in its success.
One recent manifestation of Wilbur- Ellis’ long-term thinking is a significant investment at its Woodland, California hub.“ Originally, we had two smaller California locations: one in Woodland and one in Dixon,” Heather informs.“ After recognizing that this was an area where we had very good farmer partnerships, we sought to make sure we were there for the long haul. Therefore, we acquired a facility that was being sold by another company and transformed it by building a brandnew warehouse and operational space, upgrading the maintenance and asset management facilities for our field services and maintenance crews, and constructing a state-of-the-art liquid fertilizer facility with blending capabilities and automation. We also took advantage of the greenhouses on site to create a research space specifically for our branded technology and products. This space is complete with labs and growing facilities to develop the next generation of solutions that will help our farmers get the most yield possible from each of their fields. I believe that the creation of the research space and our adoption of automation to
... We send 20-30 employees to the Women in Agribusiness Annual Summit each year to network, receive mentoring and explore leadership opportunities. There is still more progress to be made, and we look forward to future opportunities for our employees
▲ Heather Messer
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