Best known as the parent for several Canadian and U.S. manufacturers of grain handling and storage equipment, Ag Growth International is expanding its tech portfolio.

Winnipeg-based AGI announced Wednesday it has bought Burnaby, B.C.-based CMC Industrial Electronics and Iowa-based Junge Control (JCI) for undisclosed sums.

CMC, which formed in 1997 and has facilities at Burnaby and Minneapolis, makes commercial bin monitoring sensors and systems as well as hazard monitoring sensors and systems for “material handling applications” in the grain, feed and milling sectors.

CMC’s new product offerings include the Grain Ranger system, launched in February last year. The system communicates with legacy analog and digital grain temperature cables to provide bin temperature data to a user’s computer, phone or tablet.

JCI, meanwhile, makes automation, measurement, blending and batching systems, equipment and software for the agriculture and fuel industries.

The company was founded in 1979 by Dave Junge, an Iowa farmer credited with building the world’s first computerized fertilizer plant.

AGI said Cedar Rapids-based JCI’s precision blending and measurement systems, used mainly in liquid fertilizer blending, are “highly complementary” to the new parent firm’s fertilizer product offering.

The two firms booked combined sales of about $15 million in their most recent full fiscal years, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $4 million, AGI said.

AGI, whose ag equipment brands already include auger makers Westfield and Wheatheart, grain conveyor maker Batco, grain bin makers Twister and Westeel, aeration equipment maker Grain Guard, among others, said the new acquisitions “add significant strength to our applied technology platform.” — AGCanada.com Network