About Us
Valley Fertilizer was founded in the early 1920s by a group of Shenandoah Valley Orchardists led by George Holtzman. Their purpose was to create a company to with enough buying power to keep their costs low for orchard supplies (apple boxes, trays, etc.) and chemicals. At that time, bagged fertilizer was just a small part of the company. Fertilizer was bagged and stacked by hand in 100-pound bags. Over time, the bag size was reduced to 80-pound and then the current 50-pound bag, which is much easier to handle.
In the early 1970s the company began carrying Pioneer Seed corn and later added a full line of small grains and grasses for pasture or lawns.
Liquid fertilizer and chemical applications began in the early 1970s with a 1959 Ford Truck, a 1000-gallon tank and 30-foot booms. By the early 1980s, the liquid fertilizer and chemical application business was thriving. Spray trucks at that time had large “floater” tires (similar to a monster truck tire), to easily travel over crops, and the boom size increased to 45 feet. In the late 1980s, liquid and chemical application made up over 80 percent of Valley Fertilizer’s business as no-till farming started in the Valley. As business continued to grow, 4-wheel drive spray trucks were added as no-till farming became more popular, and fertilizer, Nitrogen and chemicals could be spread across the top of crops later in the growing season. While the 4-wheel drive trucks gave crops a longer window for application, they were still not tall enough. In the late 1990s Valley began applying products with Prowlers – which were much higher and enabled application as crops continued to grow.
In the early 1990s, as large orchards began buying smaller ones in the area, and much of the orchard supply business sales dwindled due to competition, Valley still carried some orchard packing supplies, but a large part of that business was discontinued.
As bagged fertilizer became more popular, many hardware and farm supplies stores began selling Valley products. Consumers were interested not only in fertilizer products for crops but also for lawns. An automated bagging system and robot stacker was added around 2015, increasing the production of fertilizer products. It was around this time that Valley also started producing fertilizer in 2,000-pound bulk super sacks.
In 2012, Valley started bagging Ice Melt products, including ice melt and traction aid, rock salt, and extra melt II. We also carry Magnesium chloride flakes and pellets, which are safe on concrete older than 1 year of age. Ice melt products are available in 40-pound bags, 2,000-pound super sacks and bulk trailer load quantities.
As farming has changed over the years, dry bulk fertilizer has become more economical and popular than liquid fertilizer. In mid-2024, Valley discontinued liquid and chemical applications. Valley Fertilizer continues to apply dry fertilizer and lime to customer fields. We also offer soil sampling so that you know exactly what nutrients your crop needs.
Wildlife plots are also becoming popular, we carry both seed mixes as well individual seeds sold by the pound which include clovers, sugar beets, rape seed, sunflower seeds, turnips and radishes.
