Farm business plows ahead

Yuba City's latest boom for local agribusiness and sales tax revenue has arrived in the form of a farming equipment company.

Bianchi Ag Services is hosting its grand opening Thursday. A provider for Case International farming equipment, the store at 3056 Colusa Highway, complements Yuba City's push to develop agribusiness, said Darin Gale, the city's economic development director.

"We have local farmers in our region who were traveling outside our community to make large purchases on Chase tractors," Gale said. "This just adds another of the top tractor companies in the nation in our backyard."

Farmers are typically brand-loyal when it comes to their equipment, so the more access the region can give them to the products they want, the better, Gale said. New stores often only redistribute existing sales-tax revenue but that will likely not be the case with Bianchi, he said.

"Although they will compete with Holt, John Deere, Beeler, they are bringing something new, just like a new car or a new model that we don't have here that people have to go outside our community to buy," Gale said.

Jim Bianchi opened up a Case International dealership in Richvale in Butte County in January 2008. By December 2009, the decision was made to add another store in Yuba City, to be closer to a large customer base, said chief financial officer Mo Dean.

The Yuba City store will be a full-service outlet from sales to service to parts.

"We don't exist without farmers and farmers don't exist without us and other tractor dealers," Dean said.

The recession is of little concern to the new business, Dean said.

"Agriculture, for whatever reason, is counter-cyclical to the rest of the economy," he said.

The store will be open seven days a week during planting and harvesting seasons because "farmers don't stop," said parts manager Rick Wynn. That will likely be important this year, as the rains will keep farmers from the fields until May and create a smaller window for planting and other work.

The opening of Bianchi Ag Services created 11 jobs. Service manager Bobby Ragan said he looked for people who were laid off or out of work before he hired those with existing jobs.

Gale said the sales of high-dollar farm machinery will also likely be of great help to Yuba City's struggling sales tax revenue.

The store has already sold nine combines, Dean said, which are valued at more than $3 million and will have definite trickle-down in sales tax.

"Two percent of that is all local money, and we haven't even opened the store yet," Dean said.

Yuba City has not looked at building its agricultural base until now, Gale said. And while many people think of agriculture as farm labor, there are lots of other well-paying jobs in the industry.

"In economic development, the first thing they say to look at is what you're good at," Gale said. "We're surrounded by agriculture land and we've preserved a lot of agriculture land."

He plans to continue to reach out to other agribusiness.

"It might start with the small addition of an office and one employee representing the company but the idea would be we would grow to be the hub for that company," Gale said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724 or agebb@appealdemocrat.com.