Brown Milling

What Brown Milling does

Brown Milling is a privately held, full-service agricultural supply company operating four locations across Isabella County in Central Michigan. Founded in 1965 as a mobile feed grinding service, the company expanded into fertilizer in 1970 and grew by acquiring Rosebush Feed & Grain (1983), Superior Fertilizer (1987), and Shepherd Elevator (1991). Since January 18, 2022, Brown Milling has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Star of the West Milling Company, retaining its brand identity and local operating structure.

The company's offering bundles grain marketing, grain storage and transport, fertilizer sales and application, crop protection products, seed treatment, soil sampling, salt and seed retail, and GPS-guided custom application services across its Mt. Pleasant, Rosebush, and Shepherd, Michigan facilities. Cash bids for corn, soybeans, white wheat, and red wheat are published through a website-integrated pricing tool, alongside DTN-sourced weather forecasts, grain market commentary, and agricultural news feeds that support farmer decision-making. The Quality Premium program for white wheat and on-farm custom application are specific points of differentiation within the local market.

Brown Milling serves a customer base of farmers in Isabella County and surrounding Central and Northern Michigan regions, with no enterprise or large-anchor customer relationships disclosed. Revenue mechanics depend on grain-handling margins, fertilizer and crop protection product sales, and fees from custom application services; pricing for grain fluctuates daily with futures markets, while fertilizer and crop protection product pricing is not publicly disclosed. No revenue, headcount, or financial figures have been disclosed in available source material.

Name

Brown Milling

Legal name

Brown Milling, Inc.

Website

https://brownmilling.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Brown Milling is a privately held, full-service agricultural supply company operating four locations in Isabella County, Central Michigan, offering grain handling, fertilizer, crop protection, and GPS-guided custom application services to local farmers under Star of the West Milling Company.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Supply Services

NAICS

Crop Harvesting, Primarily by Machine (115113)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Wholesale-Farm Product Raw Materials (5150)

akta.pro primary industry

Grain Merchandising & Origination Facilities (AFAOAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Flour & Milling Products Manufacturing (wheat, corn, rice, specialty flours) (AFAKABAD)

Keywords

• Grain elevator services
• Crop protection products
• Fertilizer application services
• Precision agriculture services
• Agricultural supply services

Headquarters

HQ city

Pleasant Hill

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Brown Milling operates a network of four agricultural supply locations in Isabella County, Michigan, providing grain marketing and storage, fertilizer products and application, crop protection, seed treatment, GPS-guided custom application, soil sampling, and grain transport services. The company serves Central and Northern Michigan farmers with full-service farm supply solutions under the brands Brown Milling, Superior Fertilizer, Rosebush Feed & Grain, and Shepherd Elevator.

Product overview

Brown Milling is a network of full-service agricultural locations serving Central and Northern Michigan, operated by Star of the West Milling Company since January 2022. The company offers a comprehensive suite of farm supply and agronomy services including crop protection products, grain transport, fertilizer services, grain storage, seed treatment, custom applications, GPS precision applications, and soil sampling. The network operates four main locations: Brown Milling Inc. in Mt. Pleasant, Superior Fertilizer in Rosebush, Rosebush Feed & Grain in Rosebush, and Shepherd Elevator in Shepherd, Michigan. The company specializes in grain commodities including corn, soybeans, white wheat, and red wheat, providing cash bid pricing and market information to farmers in Isabella County and surrounding regions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Crop Protection Products
• Fertilizer Services
• Grain Storage Services
• Grain Transport
• Salt and Seed Sales

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Star of the West Milling CompanyflagshipOthers · 18 January 2022Star of the West Milling Company acquired Brown Milling Inc. on January 18, 2022, establishing Brown Milling as part of a larger agricultural company network. Star of the West maintains branding at brownmilling.com while operating the acquired entity.
• DTNcoreTechnology or IntegrationDTN provides integrated weather forecasting, grain market information, agricultural news, and market analysis tools displayed on Brown Milling's website. DTN supplies the weather radar, 5-day forecasts, grain market news, futures prices, and agricultural intelligence that support customer decision-making.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Andersons, Inc. U.S. agribusiness operating grain elevators, farm supply retail stores, and specialty ingredients across the Midwest. Direct peer as a multi-location grain origination and farm input retailer serving regional farmer customers with a comparable service bundle.
• Growmark, Inc. Regional agricultural cooperative providing grain, agronomy, and energy products across the Midwest and Ontario. Direct peer as a member-owned, multi-location ag retailer offering grain origination, fertilizer, and crop protection under a unified brand.
• MFA Incorporated: Regional agricultural cooperative operating grain elevators, farm supply stores, and agronomy services across Missouri and surrounding states. Direct peer as a similarly structured full-service regional ag retailer with comparable grain merchandising and farm supply economics.

Broad incumbents

• Perdue AgriBusiness: Diversified agribusiness with grain origination, storage, and farm services across the Eastern U.S. Broad incumbent with overlapping grain handling and farm supply services and significantly broader geographic reach than Brown Milling.
• Bunge Limited: Global agribusiness and food company with grain origination, processing, and trading operations. Broad incumbent in the same upstream grain merchandising space but operating at global scale with downstream processing integration.
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Global agribusiness company with grain origination, processing, and farm services across the U.S. and internationally. Broad incumbent in the same industry with significantly larger scale, capital, and a publicly traded platform.
• CHS Inc. Largest U.S. agricultural cooperative providing grain, agronomy, energy, and food products globally. Broad incumbent with overlapping grain origination and farm services but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach than Brown Milling.
• Star of the West Milling Company: Mid-sized flour milling and grain elevator company headquartered in Michigan that acquired Brown Milling in 2022. Comparable as the parent entity with broader milling operations, larger grain origination, and a wider multi-state footprint.
• Cargill, Incorporated: Private global agribusiness with extensive grain handling, farm services, and commodity trading operations. Broad incumbent in adjacent agricultural services and merchandising with substantially larger capital base and global footprint.

Regional players

• Country Partners Cooperative: Regional agricultural cooperative serving Nebraska and Kansas with grain, agronomy, and farm supply services. Comparable as a similarly structured full-service regional ag provider operating multi-location grain elevators and farm input retail outlets, though in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brown-milling-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Brown Milling