Mission statement

It is the mission of Poulin Grain, Inc. to be the leaders in the feed and agricultural field by producing "Quality Focused" products and "Cutting Edge" customer service at a fair price, while maintaining a profitable company that provides a safe and happy workplace designed to benefit all of the people that dedicate themselves to making Poulin Grain successful!

Poulin's history

Founding

A.J. Poulin began selling Bull Brand Feeds, which were manufactured out of Buffalo, New York. These feeds were warehoused on his farm in Newport Center, Vermont.

July, 1932

A.J. Poulin purchases the Fowler Mill in North Troy, Vermont. From the mill, A.J. starts blending and mixing Poulin Feeds. The new mill was also used to store Blue Seal Feeds for sale to local farms.

Fifteen year old Gaston Poulin begins working after school at the feed mill.

September, 1940

A.J. Poulin decides to retire and turn ownership of Poulin Grain over to Gaston Poulin. Gaston continues to manufacture Poulin Feeds and begins to distribute Beacon Feeds along with Blue Seal Feeds.

January, 1954

Gaston leads Poulin Grain into the era of bulk feeds. The feed mill is completely rebuilt and updated to handle bulk and bagged feed. A liquid blending system is installed to add molasses to feeds. The Poulin Feed line is expanded to meet new demands.

August, 1961

Gaston expands hardware and starts to offer a complete line of building supplies. Poulin Grain becomes Poulin Grain & Lumber, Inc.

March, 1965

Son, Steve Poulin joins Poulin Grain & Lumber and begins working to expand sales.

January, 1970

Son, Pete Poulin begins working full time. He and Steve look to expand lumber sales.

May, 1972

Jeff Poulin joins the company concentrating on expanding feed sales.

September, 1974

The Purina Checkerboard Store located in Newport, Vermont was purchased.

The decision is made to close and tear down the feed mixing system in North Troy after almost 35 years of manufacturing grain at that site.

October, 1974

Poulin Grain & Lumber becomes two separate companies. Steve and Pete form Poulin Lumber, Inc., purchase the building and lumber inventory in North Troy. Gaston and Jeff retain Poulin Grain, Inc. at the present location in Newport, Vermont. The decision is made to carry Blue Seal Feed exclusively.

January, 1975

Gaston and Jeff make the decision to get Poulin Grain back into manufacturing feed by erecting a new feed mill.

After a year of construction the new mill opens and Poulin Feeds are again offered to farmers in mash form.

September, 1984

A new pelleting system is installed. Poulin Grain now has capabilities to manufacture a total and complete line of feeds to their customers.

July, 1986

After more than 40 years in the business Gaston decides to retire. Jeff purchases the balance of the Poulin Grain and becomes the third president of the company.

October, 1987

Decision is made to expand the product line to include sacked feeds and begin to market them through independent feed stores throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.

January, 1990

Poulin Grain adds their own pet foods to the product line.

July, 1992

Growth in bag feed sales prompts the company to construct a 20,000 square foot addition to support the sales growth and expand their market place into the balance of New England.

December, 1995

Poulin Grain announces an agreement with Kentucky Equine research, a world leader in Equine Management.

Poulin Grain begins manufacturing a new horse feed line in conjunction with Kentucky Equine Research.

February, 1996

With the Newport facility operating near capacity, Poulin Grain enters into an agreement to purchase a second feed mill in Swanton, Vermont.

Poulin Grain embarks on a $2 million renovation of the Swanton facility to increase capacity of the mill to 80,000 ton per year.

March, 1998

Poulin Grain introduces the Heifer Optimizer program. This program was designed to deliver a 1,300+ lb heifer into the milking string at 22 months of age.

Renovations complete at the Swanton mill. With a capacity of 80,000 ton annually, the mill features and enclosed truck and rail unloading shed, new bulk storage bins, a 10,000 square foot warehouse, state of the art control room and a new pellet mill.

May, 1999

Poulin Grain introduces the “Attention Program” a first in the industry designed to accumulate data on dairy farms to support overall herd health and monitor production

August, 1999

Poulin Grain manufactures the 1 millionth ton of feed since opening the feed mill in 1984.

January, 2000

Jeff's children, Joshua and Jenna Poulin, join the company and became the fourth generation of the family to be involved in the feed business.

July, 2001

Poulin Grain signs a consulting agreement with Steve Duren Ph.D. and his company Performance Horse Nutrition, LLC. The company begins to formulate horse feeds and supply the industry with “cutting edge” products and services.

May, 2002

Jeff sells a portion of the company to Josh and Jenna who became the fourth generation of the Poulin family to manage Poulin Grain. Jenna becomes the first female stockholder of the company.

September, 2003

The company builds and establishes an NIR forage and feed testing lab. This investment allows for much quicker turnaround times to support our dairy and bag feed customers and helps enhance the company quality assurance program. The lab will grow to almost 15,000 individual samples per year by 2015.

August, 2004

Poulin Grain expands into the northern New York market with the purchase of the Canton, NY plant. An extensive plant and office renovation project begins and is completed in in summer of 2006. The renovation is designed to expand capacity at this facility to 80,000 ton per year

March, 2005

An extensive plant and office renovation project begins and is completed in the fall of the following year.

Summer, 2006

Poulin Grain produces its 2-millionth ton of feed since construction of the Newport plant. It took 15 years to produce the first million and only 6 years to reach the 2nd million.

December, 2006

Jeff decides to step down as president of the company and sells the balance of Poulin Grain to Josh and Jenna.

October, 2008

Poulin Grain hires its 100th employee.

July, 2011

Poulin Grain manufactures its 3rd millionth ton of feed only 5 and 1/2 years after producing the 2nd.

May, 2012

Continued growth in bag feed sales and the expansion of their market into New York prompts a $1.5 million dollar plant renovation in Newport. The expansion modernizes the production process and enhances quality control of these feeds.

May, 2014

Due to the company expanding sales into Southern Vermont and Massachusetts the decision is made again to expand and the company acquires Whitman’s Feed in Bennington Vermont. This acquisition helps Poulin Grain exceed sales of 250,000 ton in 2015.

July, 2015

On August 11th the company produces its 4th million ton of feed needing little less than 4 1/2 years to achieve this milestone.

August, 2016
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