Farm King to market Westeel bins in U.S.

Buhler Industries’ farm implement division has been named the exclusive distributor for grain bin maker Westeel in the U.S.

As per an agreement announced Monday, Buhler’s Farm King division will be responsible for marketing and distribution of Westeel-branded bins, storage equipment, augers, grain vacs and grain cleaners, as well as all Westeel-built products sold under the Farm King name, through Buhler’s U.S. dealers.

The new arrangement “significantly increases the distribution footprint for our products within the U.S.,” Westeel general manager Andre Granger said in a release.

“Thanks to Buhler Industries’ well established U.S. dealer network, Westeel-built products will now be introduced to many new markets and receive the dealer support they require to penetrate those markets strongly.”

The deal also calls for Buhler to select a group of grain handling dealers in its U.S. dealer network to carry the Farm King-branded grain storage products.

The arrangement “allows us to offer the total grain handling solution in the U.S. that our customers require,” Buhler president Dmitry Lyubimov said in a separate release. “Westeel products will add the essential elements to our grain handling line without compromising the quality that customers have come to expect from Farm King.”

The deal is the second phase of a marketing partnership between the two Winnipeg companies.

In the first phase, announced Oct. 5, Westeel is to sell Buhler-made, Westeel-branded grain handling equipment through the bin maker’s Canadian distribution chain, setting up what Lyubimov called the “total grain handling solution” in the Canadian market.

Westeel makes grain bins at Winnipeg and Saskatoon and petroleum storage tanks at Olds, Alta., Tisdale, Sask. and Regina, and runs distribution centres at St-Simon-de-Bagot, Que., Fargo, N.D., Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Buhler, majority-owned by Russian farm equipment maker Rostselmash, runs seven manufacturing plants and nine distribution centres in Canada and the U.S., including plants at Winnipeg and Morden, Man.