The respected, privately owned Lincolnshire based specialist agronomy business, Boothmans Agriculture, has announced it has joined forces with the UK's leading crop production and grain marketing business, Frontier Agriculture.
Based in Bourne the business, which has annual sales of £6m and 4 full time agronomists, will remain an independently managed division of Frontier, led by the current directors David and Robert Boothman.
Frontier, which has 126 of its own agronomists, has made no secret of its intention to grow its agronomy services to complement leading positions in fertiliser distribution, seed processing and grain marketing. Frontier acquired the precision farming application business SOYL in 2009.
David Boothman, director of Boothmans Agriculture, confirmed that this decision was about fuelling future growth and technological investment for their farming customers in the East Midlands and East Anglia. "The industry is consolidating every year and we need to ensure we have access to the best products, technical innovation and crop trials research to keep our farmers at the forefront of developments," he said. "Frontier is a long term investor and with them we can ensure Boothmans Agriculture thrives and continues to grow far into the future."
Robert Boothman, director of Boothmans Agriculture confirmed that it would be business as usual.
"Frontier has a strong presence in our trading area so our combined resources will provide real strength in the crop protection business. We will keep the Boothmans Agriculture brand and will continue to operate independently, but the wider resources of Frontier will provide us with the means to grow and maintain our service at the cutting edge for our farmers."
Speaking about the announcement Mark Aitchison, managing director of Frontier, was optimistic about the future. "We have been in discussion with Boothmans Agriculture for some time and we very much respect the existing management and culture of the business. There is a great deal we can jointly learn from each other and by joining Frontier, the future for Boothmans Agriculture is bright, secure and certain."
