About McRae Holdings Ltd.

McRae Holdings Ltd. was founded 1982 by the husband and wife team of Brent and Trish McRae. At this time the company operated as a bulk fuel and lubricants agency for Imperial Oil Ltd. The company grew successfully in the subsequent years thanks to strong management and a strong focus on providing superior customer service. The McRae name has been associated with such business fundamentals for more than three generations. This can be credited to the guidance of family patriarch Wallace McRae and his son Bruce (Gramps) McRae, and their extensive experience in the southern Alberta business community.

The late 1990’s brought significant changes in the services provided by McRae Holdings Ltd. along with its relationship with Imperial Oil. The movement of Imperial to re-vision its bulk product sales into regional distributors, rather than retaining local agents, resulted in the opportunity for McRae Holdings Ltd. to venture into other business lines. In 1998, Brent and his brother Gord purchased the oilfield trucking company, Damberger Trucking from the family of Harvey Damberger. Brent and Gord then began to grow Damberger Trucking (1998) by combining their management style and the established and well known Damberger name.

In 1999 Doug McRae, brother to Brent and Gord, joined the sales team at McRae Holdings Ltd. At this time the opportunity arose to operate Imperial Oil’s Engro Fertilizer agency for the Pincher Creek area. Doug, drawing on his agricultural background, led this new venture as Engro Manager and shareholder. In 2000, Imperial Oil completed the roll out of its vision and McRae Holdings Ltd. discontinued its bulk fuel agency and then became the authorized reseller for Engro crop nutrition products in Pincher Creek and area.

McRae Holdings Ltd. began to grow its crop nutrition business by expanding its service area into the Eastern Kootenay area of BC and Northwestern Montana. At this time McRae Holdings Ltd. contracted the young agronomy firm Agri-Trend Agrology Ltd. to provide agronomy training and support services through its Associate Agri-Coach and Strategic Crop Plan programs.

In late 2002, McRae Holdings Ltd. grew its reseller footprint to include the modern Engro facility in Cardston, formerly operated by Zuback Agri Supplies Ltd. At this time, existing managers Steve Zuback and Eldon Carlson joined McRae Holdings Ltd. as facility managers and shareholders. Along with the addition of the Cardston facility, the company added significantly to its application and transportation equipment fleet.

The company continued to grow successfully in product volume and market area, adding many key team members in the process. In 2005, Agrium Inc. acquired the Engro brand and facilities from Imperial Oil, resulting in increased access to a variety of crop nutrition products. In 2006, McRae Holdings Ltd. discontinued its US operations to allow resources to be focused on its core market area. At this time the construction of a modern fertilizer blending and storage facility at its Pincher Creek location was completed, as the capacity of its aging Engro facility had long since been exceeded.

The ag-support team at McRae Holdings Ltd. continues to evaluate the agronomic benefits of both traditional and newly developed crop nutrition products, with support from the of extensive scientific training knowledge contributed by the Agri-Trend Group of Companies. McRae Holdings Ltd. operates from modern storage and blending facilities in Pincher Creek and Cardston, Alberta. Additionally, they proudly maintain a modern, state of the art fleet of transportation and application equipment. With the support of these resources, along with their team of knowledgeable, service oriented ag-specialists, McRae Holdings Ltd. is committed to providing quality, agronomic crop nutrition products and services to clients across Southern Alberta and the Eastern Kootenays.