AgraCity says it is unable to fill orders
Crop input supplier AgraCity has confirmed rumours that it is unable to fulfil its commitments to customers this spring.
“AgraCity has experienced some cash flow issues and has been in a process to refinance our business,” the firm said in its message to farmers.
“The process has unfortunately taken much longer than expected and has resulted in product availability issues this spring.”
As a result, the firm will be unable to deliver outstanding product to its customers in a timely manner this spring.
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“All outstanding product orders are being cancelled and being converted into a product credit,” AgraCity told its customers.
“We want to inform everyone that the sales team worked tirelessly to the best of their ability to meet the needs of their customers and was caught off guard, as we all were, by the delay of the refinancing efforts.”
A farmer from the North Battleford, Sask., area, who requested anonymity, told the Western Producer that he prebought $54,000 of glyphosate from AgraCity that was supposed to show up on his farm during the winter months.
It did not.
“I got calling my representative in the spring and there was no chance of any glyphosate showing up,” said the grower.
“They were hoping for new crop chemical, is what I was told.”
He also purchased $27,000 of glufosinate from the company in the fall of 2024 that never arrived, he alleges.
He has given up on receiving any of the herbicide that he ordered and paid for.
The farmer is speaking to a lawyer about what steps he can take.
A scan of the Better Business Bureau website shows this isn’t the first time customers have claimed the company left them high and dry.
An anonymous complainant says they ordered $34,000 of product from AgraCity in April 2022 and then immediately cancelled the order.
“The product was charged to our credit card and has yet to be reimbursed,” the person stated in the complaint.
AgraCity responded to the complaint, saying that it was in the process of issuing a full refund.
The complaint status is listed as “unresolved” by the bureau.
AgraCity is owned by James Mann and Jason Mann, who are listed as equal shareholders in the company, according to court documents.
The two brothers are directors and officers of AgraCity, with Jason responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm.
James is also the sole registered shareholder of Farmers of North America, although Jason claims to have an ownership stake in that firm.
The two companies are intertwined because AgraCity sells agricultural crop inputs but historically has done so only to farmers who are members of FNA.
The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan says the two brothers and their companies have been embroiled in a “portfolio of lawsuits” against one another dating back to 2017.
“Most parts of this litigation have yet to reach a conclusion, whether through trial or otherwise,” the court stated in a March 5, 2024, decision.
Awan Khurrum, a Regina lawyer who has represented AgraCity, said the litigation between the Mann brothers remains before the courts.
He is not aware of any receivership or creditor protection proceedings against AgraCity.
AgraCity has been operating for 20 years and claims to have saved farmers millions of dollars a year on their crop input bills.
Jason is also the president of Genesis Fertilizers, a company that is proposing to build a nitrogen fertilizer production and distribution plant in Belle Plaine, Sask.
Source: producer.com