Simplot Grower Solutions celebrated 80 years on Sept. 12 at its new West Canyon office and renovated fertilizer barn in Caldwell, highlighting efficiencies designed to support growers into the future.
Simplot Grower Solutions, the agriculture retail division of the Simplot Company, celebrated its 80th anniversary on Sept. 12, with a tour of their new West Canyon office and remodeled fertilizer dry barn in Caldwell. Growers and community leaders, along with generations of the Simplot family and Gov. Brad Little, attended the event.
This is a bird’s-eye view of the West Canyon office and remodeled fertilizer barn in Caldwell. Image courtesy of Simplot.
Cassidy Woolsey – September 30, 2025
Launched in 1945 by company founder and namesake J.R. Simplot, the retail division began operating under the name “Simplot Soilbuilders” with the first store opening behind a potato dehydrating plant in Caldwell. Recognizing the need for a more efficient way to distribute fertilizer, Simplot pioneered a then-unheard-of concept: a network of retail farm service stores. This move laid the foundation for what would become one of North America’s leading ag retail organizations.
After a name change to Simplot Grower Solutions in 2002, the business has since grown to serve more than 35,000 growers across the United States and Canada.
“This milestone is a tribute to the generations of Simplot Grower Solutions employees who have helped shape our legacy, and to the growers who have trusted us as partners,” said Troy Bolt, vice president and general manager, Simplot AgriBusiness Retail, in a press release. “For 80 years, we’ve been driven by innovation and a deep responsibility to help feed a growing world. We are profoundly grateful for the relationships we’ve built with our customers. Our retail operations will continue to be a cornerstone of our company’s future, and we remain committed to evolving our value proposition in partnership with farmers to ensure our joint success for the next 80 years and beyond.”
As part of the celebration, attendees toured the new West Canyon office and fertilizer barn, getting a firsthand look at the facilities designed to support growers into the future.Advertisement
The Caldwell location, which services growers in the Treasure Valley and into areas of Oregon and Nevada, was upgraded this year to improve efficiency to their outbound loadout and inbound receiving systems. These improvements include a new HIM blender and an overhead tower storage system that streamlines the blending process.
“Prior to the upgrade, it would take us up to 45 minutes to get a 10-wheeler loaded,” Tyler Mallard, location manager, told attendees. “Now we’re looking at maybe 15 minutes, so we’re able to get that product back out to our growers much more quickly. It’s shortening our day and we’re able to cover more acres than we have in the past.”
Mallard said the facility is unique in that it’s a hybrid loadout, meaning product is pulled from floor bins as well as overhead bins to get the product to the blender, which is the first for Simplot. They did that to alleviate issues caused by sulfur dust, which could be an explosive hazard. This is a kind of hybrid facility greatly improves safety and efficiencies.
Simplot’s new West Canyon office is pictured with the newly remodeled fertilizer barn in the background. Image by Cassidy Woolsey.
About 11,000 to 13,000 tons of fertilizer are stored at the West Canyon location, with the largest bin capacity at 2,500 tons. To put that in perspective, their Jerome location has a maximum bin storage of about 2,100 tons. However, that is changing with the upgrade to the Mini-Cassia location and plans to build another dry barn in Wendell that is expected to hold up to 22,000 tons. The Simplot Company continues to invest in new technologies at plants across North America to better serve growers.
Receiving has also improved significantly, with an upgrade to the receiving system to accelerate offloading, ensuring a smoother, faster experience from start to finish. “We are spending more time now moving our rail cars than we are actually unloading,” Mallard said. “This last spring we didn’t start receiving fertilizer until February, which is abnormal for us. We typically do our spring fill in that December, January time frame. So it got crammed all together, and we were able to have all that done. We were up and running and kicking fertilizer out of here first part of March. … What would have taken us two, three months for us to get loaded, we did in about three weeks.”
“We are growing with the industry, and we are growing with the times. We can receive product by rail now in 26 minutes, in what would have previously taken four hours,” said John Otter, director of The Simplot Company.
As Simplot looks ahead to the next chapter, the company emphasized its continued focus on its core values. “Simplot Grower Solutions is always focused on investing in our people and our facilities so that we can better serve our grower customers, as we know our success is dependent on their success. We are proud and humbled to be a part of this for 80 years,” said Garret Lofto, the company’s CEO.