The name Redfern has history behind it in western Manitoba.
Ray Redfern started his company, Redfern Farm Services, in 1972 and opened the first location in Rivers.
Just over 50 years later, the company has grown to 11 sites, with a head office in Brandon and branches in Carberry, Hamiota, Shoal Lake, Hartney, Kenton, Virden, Souris, Neepawa, Minnedosa and Rivers.
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Today, the company sources seed, crop protection products and fertilizer for farmers throughout the region. It offers agronomic consultation, soil testing, fertilizer equipment rentals and custom application services.
The company has changed in increments, said Redfern.
“You don’t know what’s made the difference for you. I guess I would say it would be us assuming it was our responsibility to provide diversification of our offerings and, more importantly, of our way to build and be relevant to the customer.”
Adoption of computer technology was part of the company’s evolution, along with a large catalogue of products.
“We don’t believe, anyway, that we’re trying to get a customer to conform to what our offering is,” he said. “We take the position of, we think that every farm is going to be somewhat different in either the equipment that they have available or their level of interest in investing into equipment technology. We respond to say we think we can provide you products that work within your own level of farm operation cycle.”
Human capital is another major element.
Like most agri-chemical retailers, the business is investing more heavily in consultation and agronomy services, in-house expertise that Redfern said customers expect.
The business owner noted the value of maintaining 11 locations, including smaller branches, although it requires sharing labour between locations to minimize costs.
Moving on
Changes are coming as the agricultural landscape shifts, said Redfern, citing tighter regulations for certain popular insecticides.
Ammonia, a major part of the business, is also under regulatory and inflationary pressure and value chain challenges are an additional wrench in the works.
“On a general basis, we’ve always assumed until now that there’s product available and the grower has tended to sound unconvinced all the time when we tell them there’s going to be potential shortages of a product,” Redfern said.
The global marketplace, affected by the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 spikes in China and other issues, also affects his chain of retailers and the availability of inputs.
“We’re going to have to be innovative enough to be able to have agriculture still produce in a period of what we could call uncertainty of supply,” he said. “That’s not likely to ever completely go away, because we’re a more complex world than we were when I started 50 years ago.”
Redfern said his company, like the rest of the agricultural sector, will have to manage potentially higher interest rates and “assume a strength to be able to weather changes that may occur again in the cost of doing business related to the cost of capital.”
