Helena planning expansion in Ridgeway with new fertilizer storage, blending facility

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 March 2025 at 9:21 am

Orleans EDA offering $454K in incentives for project

Photo by Tom Rivers: Helena Agri-Enterprises will be expanding at 3956 Allis Rd. in Ridgeway. The company built its facility in 2017 to serve the local agricultural community.

RIDGEWAY – A business serving local farmers will be expanding on Allis Road in Ridgeway.

Helena Agri-Enterprises expects to break ground this spring on a new facility for blending and storing fertilizer. Helena estimates the new complex will be complete Dec. 31, 2026.

The new 15,000-square-foot facility will give Helena more capacity to serve farm operations of all sizes, especially the larger ones in planting season where there is often a small weather window to get fertilizer in the ground.

“This will eliminate bottlenecks,” said John Ivison, Helena branch manager.

Helena has been operating in Orleans County for about 22 years, first in Albion before building the new complex in Ridgeway in 2017.

The new building will have storage for 4,000 tons of product. That is enough plant food and fertilizer for about 30,000 acres.

The Orleans Economic Development Agency held a public hearing on Wednesday for financial incentives for the estimated $4,275,000 project.

The EDA is proposing $454,663 in incentives over 10 years while Helena pays $158,288 to local governments in a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes).

The company would get a sales tax exemption, saving Helena $261,200 or 8 percent on $3,265,000. It will get a sliding scale tax abatement over 10 years, with $35,175 exempted the first year and then 10 percent added over 10 years. Those exemption will save the company $193,463 in property taxes on the new facility over the decade.

Helena employs 15 people in Ridgeway and will add two full-time positions in the first year, and then a third position in year three with the average salaries at $55,000, according to its filing with the Orleans EDA.

Helena officials said the incentives will help mitigate the higher labor and energy costs in New York. Scott Gilliam, division manager for Helena, in a letter to the EDA board said the company’s labor costs are 20 percent higher in New York, and its energy expenses 15 percent more compared to the average in other states.