BUSINESSMAN farmer John Nicoletti has confirmed selling his Ag Implements farm machinery dealerships network was not his preferred option.
Mr Nicoletti conceded his first preference would have been to retain and grow his John Deere dealership network.
He attributed the success of his Ag Implements dealerships - which started with one and grew to a network of six - to his dedicated staff and loyal customers, many of whom were with him from day one.
"I just want to thank all my staff - they were an integral part of the business," Mr Nicoletti said.
"I also want to thank each and every one of our customers for their loyalty and support.
"I would also like to thank John Deere and all of our suppliers."
At one stage, Ag Implements employed 100 local people and provided new and used equipment sales and service and spare parts - with a parts warehouse at Northam - to farmers in 20 shires and across 30,000 square kilometres of the Wheatbelt.
"We (Ag Implements farm machinery network) were one month off our 20-year anniversary I think," Mr Nicoletti said.
"We started in 2001 in Merredin.
"I wanted to grow the business, but I couldn't so I took the next best step (selling) to maximise my return from it," he said.
Mr Nicoletti said he would miss working alongside his Ag Implements staff and wanted to thank them for their service and commitment.
He said he was proud of the dealership network and customer following that was built up from an initial purchase of a machinery dealer in Merredin, which was near Mr Nicoletti's previous central Wheatbelt base as Western Australia's biggest grain farmer.
"We basically started four of them (Ag Implement outlets) from scratch and built them up into good outlets," Mr Nicoletti said.
He said Ag Implements Mukinbudin was the next to open in 2004, followed by the Northam and Cunderdin outlets in 2008 which were created when he purchased Avon Tractor & Implement and retained its two dealer principals to run them as Ag Implement outlets.
Ag Implements Narembeen was opened in 2009 and Ag Implements Quairading in 2014.
Mr Nicoletti first called for expressions of interest for his Ag Implements network in October 2019.
AFGRI announced in July this year it had entered an agreement to buy the Ag Implements network from Mr Nicoletti.
"I didn't have a succession plan, none of my three children wanted to take the dealership on," Mr Nicoletti said.
His children, Malcolm, Romina and Lora have all followed their father into farming.
Malcolm and Romina are long-established farmers at Westonia and Bonnie Rock respectively and Mr Nicoletti said daughter Lora, who previously ran Tyreright Merredin next to the Ag Implements Merredin outlet, had also "gone back farming".
"I've got seven grandchildren, but it will be some time before they're ready (to go into business)," he said.
Mr Nicoletti said although the farm machinery outlets business was sold, he would continue trading, "just not in machinery".
At this stage, AFGRI is renting off Mr Nicoletti the existing premises for the six machinery outlets it purchased to add to its own 13 outlets and South Guildford headquarters, giving it extensive coverage of WA's agricultural area from Esperance to Geraldton.
As previously reported in Farm Weekly, Mr Nicoletti and his family sold their 200,000 hectare Baladjie aggregation across the eastern Wheatbelt to SALIC - the Kingdom of Saudi Public Investment Fund - in early 2019.
At the time, Mr Nicoletti said he was retiring from farming to concentrate on his Ag Implements network, but by October he was seeking expressions of interest for it.
Since then Mr Nicoletti has bought and sold some farm properties in the northern Wheatbelt and near Gingin.
More recently he has purchased farms at Newdegate, Hyden, Mt Walker and Borden.
