Skagit Farmers Supply, the Burlington, Washington-based parent company of AFCO Distribution, which has a location in Spokane Valley, has acquired Anchorage, Alaska-based Alaska Mill & Feed.

“We’ve been doing business with (Alaska Mill & Feed) for a lot of years and we were very comfortable with what they were doing and they were comfortable with us,” says Lloyd Campbell, vice president of AFCO. “They were our customer and our competitor, but a very different geographic market, so it just allows us to strengthen together.”

The acquisition of Alaska Mill & Feed was completed Nov. 1. Campbell declines to disclose the terms of the transaction or the annual revenues of the respective companies.

AFCO currently has 90 Spokane Valley employees and operates at a 180,000-square-foot distribution facility at 11016 E. Montgomery Drive, in Spokane Valley. The company also operates a feed manufacturing mill at 5702 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley.

Skagit Farmers Supply presence in Spokane County also includes the Spokane Valley Country Store, located at 5605 E. Sprague.

AFCO operates as a wholesale pet and agriculture distribution company, selling pet and feed supplies to farm and feed stores in eight states, Campbell says.

In addition to the Spokane Valley distribution center, the wholesale distributor delivers over 7,000 pet, animal feed, wildlife, and livestock products daily from multiple warehouses located in Lacey and Burlington, Washington.

Alaska Mill & Feed will retain all its employees and continue operations at its Anchorage facility, Campbell adds.

Skagit Farmers Supply is an agricultural cooperative founded by farmers in 1934 as a way to supply fuel to their farms, according to the company’s website. In addition to retail and manufacturing divisions, the company operates two additional business units: an agronomy center and an energy division.

The acquisition, according to AFCO’s press release, will enable both companies to leverage each other’s strengths and capabilities in agronomy, feed milling, and wholesale pet distribution.

“Our vision is to create a partnership that honors the history and strengths of both companies while building something even greater together,” says Skagit Farmers Supply CEO Tom Boland in a press release. “We are confident this collaboration will have a positive impact on the industries and communities we serve.”