The CEO of GJ Chemical is looking forward to the future as the company continues to expand its service menu. The latest expansion move involves the purchase of the crop input facility just north of Altona from Cargill Ltd.

Chief executive officer, Brent Manning, said this purchase will allow GJ Chemical to offer more solutions and services to farmers in the area by expanding into dry fertilizer storage and blending, serving as a one-stop shop for farmers.

"We always winced a little bit when we asked our customers to go pick up dry fertilizer at somebody else's location. The guys in Altona are very adept and want to make sure they are helping our customers along the way, so when it

CEO, Brent Manning, said this purchase will allow GJ Chemical to offer more solutions and services to farmers in the area by expanding into dry fertilizer storage and blending, serving as a one-stop shop for farmers.would come to that point when we'd ask them to walk down the road and get fertilizer from somebody else, it didn't sit right with us," said Manning. "We walk with them along the way, we make sure that we're doing the right things for them (and) getting all the solutions for them and this is just one way of making sure we're doing it all the way."

The new location also offers added machine and chemical storage as well as expanded liquid fertilizer capabilities.

"Basically just being a full service site here finally," added Manning.

In a release, Glenn Houser, Managing Director of Crop Inputs for Cargill Ltd. said, "we are pleased to support a business model where GJ Chemical can broaden the scope of their business in Altona, while Cargill focuses on other key locations in southern Manitoba to effectively and efficiently bring solutions to growers in crop inputs and grain marketing."

For now the local GJ Chemical office will operate out of both the current and new Altona locations, but Manning admitted the possibility exists of operating out of one yard in the future. The company continues run an office out of Arnaud, Man. where it first started in 2000 before opening a second office in Altona in 2004.

"We've talked about that in length...(and) we will talk about it in length going forward because we do have some assets here at the existing location, granted it's really hard to drag cement across the highway so I don't know what the future plans are to-date."

The plan is to get the new facility up and running as soon as possible, however a few repairs and updates need to be made but Manning said the hope is to have fertilizer operations going in time for the fall.

He noted this expansion also means extra staff will be needed to take on the additional work load.

As for what the future holds for the southern Manitoba company, Manning said he and co-owner, Alex Wahl, are cautiously optimistic about further expansion.

"If it's a good idea at the right time at the right place we'll definitely look at it, we're not opposed to doing anything," he said. "There is definitely stuff on the horizon that we're always looking at. We'll take it with baby steps. We always say we want to crawl before we walk and walk before we run, so to say we're going to stop growing would be a lie for sure."

In 2010, GJ Chemical partnered with MK Agro to open a facility in Brunkild. The company went on to acquire Dale Air Services in 2014, open SJ Agro in Miami, Man. in 2016, and formed a partnership with Friesen Seed of Rosenort in 2017.