ARTHUR, North Dakota – The Arthur Companies, a major player in marketing North Dakota agricultural commodities, is making a leap outside the state, purchasing an Idaho-based value-added wheat company.
The Arthur Companies , based in Arthur in eastern North Dakota, announced on Monday, Dec. 6, announced that it is buying Thresher Artisan Wheat , which has eight locations and 60 employees in the Snake River Valley of eastern Idaho.
The move gives The Arthur Companies access to mills in California, Oregon and Washington state and to exports through the Pacific Northwest. While most wheat grown in North Dakota ships east, the grain from Idaho goes west.
“We’ve been working to expand our wheat program that we’ve had for 115 years,” James Burgum, CEO at The Arthur Companies, said in an interview. “We’ll be able to market grain to some of these West Coast mills.”
Burgum said it was the growing region and the growers that were the biggest attraction for The Arthur Companies.
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The acquisition is effective Monday, Dec. 6. All current Thresher branding will transition to The Arthur Companies.
Burgum said the deal “allows us to expand our seed footprint as well,”
Burgum acknowledges that wheat has lost acres to corn and soybeans in North Dakota, but said “there is still a long term growth opportunity” with wheat.
He noted that The Arthur Companies logo featuring the sun and wheat “has been the logo for The Arthur Companies for as long as I can remember.”
He said wheat in the Snake River Valley is usually part of a rotation with sugar beets and potatoes.
Thresher purchases wheat from farmers then stores, blends and sells the product to flour mills, feed mills and the export market. It also processes wheat for the cereals market, preparing it for food-grade processing. Additionally, Thresher cleans and treats wheat seed to sell to farmers.
The Arthur Companies said it will be investing in the Thresher facilities. “We will be looking at ways for providing efficiencies for our growers in Idaho,” Burgum said.
“We are proud to work with The Arthur Companies through this acquisition process,” Max Mobley, general manager at Thresher said in a release. “We are confident that our customers will find this integration to be a source of stability and opportunity as they continue producing high-quality wheat throughout the Snake River Valley and beyond.”
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The Arthur Companies has locations in Anamoose, Ayr, Carrington, Harvey, Page and Pillsbury in North Dakota. It also is a partner in Anchor Ingredients, with locations in Hillsboro, Buffalo and Beach in North Dakota and Culbertson, Montana.
