Ultimate Agri-Products Agronomist/Director Glen McDonald takes us through the company's 25 year history.
Small, regional beginnings
Ultimate Agri-Products began trading in June 1997 under the name Ultimate Fertilisers, with three products that were developed in-house and based on fowl manure pellets.
Being based in south-east Melbourne our focus was local, however, this was short lived after gaining attention in central and north-west Victoria.
After 12 months we started to research liquid suspensions with a focus on lime and gypsum and by mid-1999 both Gyp-Flo and pH-Plus were released to market.
New products, new markets
While remaining state based, within the following 12 months Ultimate became a national supplier, and by 2001 Ultimate entered the cotton industry with the success of Gyp-Flo liquid gypsum.
By this time Ultimate had grown from three staff and one office to three offices and ten staff.
During this stage Ultimate had also developed more products including a true fluid fertiliser range branded as Vine-Gro which gained a significant following in the wine industry.
Surviving the drought
By 2005 the cotton industry became 40% of the company’s revenue. In 2006 most of Australia was hit by the worst drought in 100 years, so we had to turn our attention to cash crops to survive and for the next two years Ultimate regrouped.
New doors open
During this time Ultimate became the first Australian commercial agricultural company to be asked to present a paper at the Beltwide Cotton Conference in San Antonio Texas.
The presentation was given by Glen McDonald and it saw the doors of the USA starting to open.
Company restructure
Let's jump forward to 2009 when Ultimate Fertilisers became Ultimate Agri-Products and the company was restructured.
It also moved to a new office and introduced a division named Ultimate Industrial Products to service and supply the civil industry while also building exports to the USA, UK, Dubai, Malaysia, South Africa and China.
By 2012 Glen McDonald had become the sole owner of Ultimate Agri-Products overseeing both divisions.
Organic growth and fine-tuning
The business has been fine-tuned so that our speed of stock delivery is second to none; we've developed a target to rely on having at least 95% Australian made inputs; and we are environmentally conscious when it comes to product development.
The following years were about maintaining market share with a focus on organic growth by having me-too products entering the market and by developing another three products for the environmental market which had taken a number of years to develop and get market ready.
The journey
So looking back over 25 years, and now having been in the industry 38 years, it has been quite a journey.
I've met some great people and their families, including those who have worked within Ultimate over this time.
I would like to thank everyone I have met for their support over the years and hopefully their continued support well into the future. THANK YOU.
Contact Glen:
P: 1800 003 244
M: 0427 059 595
E:
W: www.ultimateagri.com.au
See this article in Tree Fruit June 2022
