Founder Willlis says he is excited about opportunities
Cooperative Producers, Inc. (CPI) announced recently that is has strengthened its presence within the CPI trade area through the acquisition of Diamond J Custom Services LLC.
Based in Aurora, Diamond J was started by Andrew Willis, his wife Taylor, and Jeff Jacobsen in 2015 to better serve the application and agronomic needs of the growers in the area. In 2019, CPI and Diamond J began a partnership in which Diamond J became CPI’s premier third-party associate, providing services to customers of CPI as well as their own.
According to terms of a transaction completed in late July, Diamond J Custom Services will continue to operate under the Diamond J name and Willis will continue to lead and manage the day-to-day operations out of the Aurora location. The new logo now includes the tagline, powered by CPI.
“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with CPI, and with our combined strengths we have an opportunity to expand our product offerings and bring additional profitability to area growers,” Andrew Willis said when asked what this transaction means for area growers. “I believe in the core values of partnerships; partnerships within our business and more importantly, with our customers. I know CPI shares these same values and with our combined resources we will be able to continue Diamond J’s growth and deliver an exceptional customer experience.”
Mike Battin, CPI’s vice president of agronomy, said his company and Diamond J developed a synergy by working together over the past several years which he is confident will continue to thrive.
“Andrew is very much one with an entrepreneurial spirit, someone who is always looking for ways to bring additional value to growers in the area,” Battin said. “He is very, very committed to customer service and he built his business based on the ability to provide those services and expertise to the growers in that area. So for us, it was a natural fit having Andrew and his team become part of our team, working hand in hand with him through the development of new technologies that are coming to the marketplace, having him at the forefront with things like moisture probes and digital imagery, biologicals, things of that nature. Between those synergies and the great business that he’s built and the great team that he’s put together, we were certainly excited about the opportunity to have them join us.”
Willis shared that he has confidence in CPI, based in part on his own history with the company. He started running sprayers out of CPI’s Axtell location almost 20 years ago and spent some time as a salesman in Giltner in the middle of his career as well. For the last four years he said his company worked closely with CPI utilizing a joint marketing agreement that served both parties well.
“It was time to start changing that marketing agreement as we’ve grown together,” he said of discussions which lead to the July acquisition. “Basically, we were two companies moving toward the same target, but we were kind of driving different vehicles and both of our vehicles had inefficiencies.
“So as we went through the process, we kind of realized that we needed to get in the same car together to be the most efficient,” he continued. “As we went down that road, it became apparent than an acquisition was the best way to move forward. Diamond J still exists, and that’s the best part about it is that I get to continue to build the brand I created, that myself and Jeff started 10 years ago.”
Taylor Willis will serve in what Andrew described as a customer service role.
“She’ll have a big role in the customer experience side of things and of course she’ll be involved in the marketing and events, things that’s she’s always been very good at,” he added. “I told the guys at CPI that they’ll find out pretty quickly that the best thing they got out of this deal was Taylor.”
Aurora staff
Over the last seven years, Willis has assembled a 12-member team of sales, operations and application professionals, who work out of the Diamond J headquarters in the Aurora Industrial Park. That team will continue to start each day at the Aurora location, which he said played a pivotal role in the company’s growth over the years.
“This was a big investment, but looking back I’m really glad we did it because we wouldn’t have been able to build our business without this space here,” Willis said of Diamond J’s facilities on Grant Street. “It’s been kind of home base, and now with the CPI partnership we will actually be moving a lot of our spring operations over to their Giltner location, potentially, and just using this as more of a sales office here.”
Willis said he is thankful to many people who supported him throughout his career.
“I am excited to continue to build and grow the brand my team and I have created over the last 10 years and bring an even higher level of service to our customers,” he said in a Facebook post. “Thanks to my employees, customers and family who have helped along the way, especially my dad (the late Dan Willis) who gave me the courage to go our on my own in the first place.”
Diamond J also has a partnership with Dillan Olson in VIGR Crop Performance, which is also based in Aurora. VIGR offers a number of services, and is on the leading edge of soil moisture probe technology. With water regulations and restrictions ever looming, CPI sees an opportunity to help growers preemptively utilize water management techniques to ensure the sustainability of their operation for the next generation that follows.
“We’ve embraced the technological advancements made in agriculture through precision ag, digital ag, digital imagery, successful carbon program development and water and nitrogen management, which aligns us very closely to CPI’s on-going initiative of delivering customer excellence and success,” Willis said.
About Cooperative Producers, Inc. — Cooperative Producers, Inc. is a farmer-owned cooperative headquartered in Hastings. CPI is currently located in 30 communities throughout South Central Nebraska, offering a wide range of products and services in their agronomy, energy, feed and grain divisions.