San Luis Obispo County Farm Supply recently announced a merger with the Grange Cooperative Supply Association (Grange Co-op) of Medford/White City, headquartered in the Rogue Valley area of southern Oregon.
The combined farmer-owned company will consist of thirteen retail stores after the October 1 merger completion. Seven stores are in California and six are in Oregon. The operation will include production facilities in grain and irrigation.
The Rogue Valley based Grange Co-op began in 1934 as a fuel cooperative for 99 farmers, mostly in Central Point, OR. They expanded into retail farm supply products with their purchase of Ashland Mills, of nearby Ashland, OR in 1943.
Farm Supply was founded in 1950 in the city of San Luis Obispo serving local dairies with fertilizer, equipment and other supplies.
The merged entity will use the business structure of Grange Co-op but is expected to take the name of Farm Supply.
Farm Supply’s strengths are in irrigation and pump services, feed, ranch supplies, and hardware. Grange Co-op compliments with feed production mills, soil management, pet and animal supplies, and large-scale farm services, according to a merger video provided by Farm Supply.
Geographically, the business will stretch from the Santa Ynez Valley in central California to southern Oregon. Farm Supply brings San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, while Grange operations include the Rogue (River) Valley and the Klamath Basin of Southern Oregon as well as two Northern California communities. Grange counties in Oregon are Josephine, Jackson and Klamath. Grange’s California counties are Sutter (and Yuba) as well as Shasta.
Both co-ops are owned and managed by farmers, yet the retail operations are open to the public. The retail stores include Buellton, Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande, SLO, Paso Robles, Yuba City and Redding in California. A Morro Bay store opened in 1988 but closed in 1998 due to space limitations. Oregon locations include Klamath Falls, Ashland, Medford, Central Point, Grants Pass and White City. Ironically enough, the city of Santa Maria, CA was originally (informally) called Grangeville, then officially changed its name to Central City before adopting the name of Santa Maria in 1882.
