Our History
For more than five decades, Willard Agri-Service has been built around one principle: helping farmers improve profitability.
From our earliest innovations in liquid fertilizer to today’s Farm Performance System, our focus has remained the same: better decisions, reliable execution, and stronger returns.
Liquid Potential
Liquid nitrogen begins to replace dry granules as a more uniform fertilizer that can be applied with herbicides.
Frederick, Maryland
De Willard opens one of the region's first fertilizer plants, Willard Chemical Company
10-4
State-of-the-art, two-way radios improve communication between sales representatives, plant managers and drivers.
The Electronic Age
Jimmy Willard purchases the company's first computer, an IBM 32. He also launched a software that created custom fertilizer blends according to soil samples. This expedited operations considerably and positioned the company for expansion.
Mt. Airy Expansion
Willard installed tanks 20 times larger than those in Frederick along with a pre-fabricated, concrete building. Growers were going big too, purchasing larger equipment capable of handling many acres in a single day. Increasingly, they came to rely on our services to do their fertilizer and custom chemical work for them.
The Eastern Shore
In 1982, the company purchased Flo-N-Gro, a liquid fertilizer firm in Lynch, Maryland. Bobby Willard left Frederick to manage the new location.
Marion, Pennsylvania
Plant construction was supervised by Pete Surgeon and De Willard, opening in March 1985.
Environmental Respect
A new culture and awareness of environmental stewardship spreads through the company. Multiple facilities receive DuPont Crop Protectants Environmental Respect Awards at the state and regional levels: Frederick (1991), Mt. Airy (1993) and Lynch (1997).