WESTERN FARM SERVICE (WFS) OPERATES MORE THAN 100 fully staffed facilities in California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Committed to the most advanced agricultural technology, it employs certified fieldmen, agronomists, and operates an in-house advanced lab (Precision Agri-Lab). This commitment has established WFS as the benchmark for superior agricultural retail services in the West.

The Turf and Ornamental markets are serviced by state-licensed professionals who offer a wide range of products and services. Markets served include bedding, potted and container plants, cut flowers, turf, sod and golf courses. Advanced technologies in soil and tissue sampling are incorporated in customer recommendations.

Precision Agri-Lab, located in Madera, California, provides centralized support for many of the advanced technical services offered by WFS. The main support areas include: soil and tissue testing, agronomic consulting, crop monitoring programs, precision agriculture, weather station installation and internet development.

AGRIUM IS ONE OF NORTH AMERICA'S LARGEST AND MOST diversified producers of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulfate fertilizers. Prior to going public in 1993, the company was a division of Cominco and marketed under the name Cominco Fertilizers. Since then, revenues have grown from $290 million to $1.9 billion. Significant investments contributing to this revenue growth include:

1993: Acquisition of Crop Production Services, adding retail revenues of $318 million.

1994: Acquisition of Western Farm Service, adding retail revenues of $310 million.

1997: Acquisition of Nu-West Industries, adding phosphate revenues of $103 million.

1995-97: Construction of 18 retail farm centers in Argentina.

1996: Merger with Viridian, adding nitrogen and phosphate revenues of $518 million.

2000: Acquisition of Unocal's fertilizer assets, adding nitrogen revenues of $312 million; beginning of commercial production of Kapuskasing, phosphate mine in Canada; partnering with Repsol-YPF SA to build Profertil nitrogen production facility in Argentina. The world-class ammonia and urea plants began commercial production in early 2001.

NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND APPLICATION TECHNIQUES

Our full line of seed products - including enhanced varieties reduces the use of certain chemicals and produces specific crop output traits.

Precision agriculture uses global positioning satellites (GPS) to precisely locate our applicators in order to apply specific nutrients in exact field locations. The computer hardware and software are required to collect, analyze and archive data that is essential for enlightened grower management decisions.

Our network of over 500 weather stations in California, Oregon and Idaho is the largest in the world. The weather station data is automatically interpreted by disease-prediction software to optimize chemical applications. The addition of C-probes to the weather station network has allowed WFS fieldmen to evaluate the effectiveness of irrigation practices.

Last year, more than 700 field tests were conducted by our agronomists to develop and evaluate new products and application techniques. Access to leading edge technology provides significant benefits to customers.