Even as the agricultural industry faces turmoil with low commodity prices and ever rising input costs, one ag company in Northeast Arkansas is expanding its operations.
Jonesboro-based Apex Ag Solutions has acquired 7.5 acres and 50,000 square feet of greenhouse, laboratory, office, warehouse, and equipment storage space previously owned by Syngenta, the company announced Tuesday (Sept. 2). The deal was for $595,000, and Apex plans to start moving into the new site later this year after renovating the existing structures.
“This is a great day for us as well as the ag community in northeast Arkansas,” Apex CEO Ryan Bane told Talk Business & Politics. “A second location allows us to serve our 100-plus clients better and offer more services to benefit farmers in the region.”
Apex Ag Solutions sells seed, chemical, and nutritional products in Northeast Arkansas, serving more than 75 farmers in the region and currently employing 12 staff members.
“This acquisition allows us to double and potentially triple the acres we currently serve,” said Bane, who expects to increase staff by 50% n 2026.
Apex is a Beck’s seed provider and has been one of the company’s top six total volume producers nationally for the past three years and among its top producers in soybean and corn seed sales.
“I commend Apex Ag Solutions on this important investment in Arkansas,” said Scott Beck, president of Beck’s in Arkansas “By bringing services closer to farmers, Apex Ag Solutions is strengthening agriculture in the region, delivering real value to growers and helping farmers succeed.”
Apex’s chemical sales have increased by 300%, and seed sales have increased by nearly 20% this year. The new outlet increases local growers’ proximity to a local retailer, Bane said.
“We pride ourselves on our ability to serve our customers, and we want to be the easiest to do business with,” he said. “Now they have local people they know and trust who can provide services that will immediately impact their operations.”
In addition to seed and supplies, Apex provides consulting services for farmers.
“We help farmers by being a resource for crop planning and critical information, such as financing,” he said. This year, Apex has connected local growers who were unable to get traditional bank financing with third-party lenders and will have multiple options going into 2026. “We try our best to stay ahead of the business and have things in place before they are needed.”
For more than a decade, Bane worked with growers in Lake City, Bay and Southeast Missouri in sales and consulting roles at Jimmy Sanders, Inc. and BASF. In 2020, he co-founded Apex with partner Brian French and became the company’s CEO i January this year after purchasing French’s potion of the company in late 2024.
“I started my career working with growers in this area,” Bane said. “It is a full-circle moment for me to be fortunate and blessed enough to purchase this land and facilities and start a retail location.”
Syngenta was forced to sell its land and operations in Arkansas earlier this year. The company was owned by the Chinese government, and the country is not allowed to own land in Arkansas per state law.