Nampa’s Integrated Biological Systems buys its Texas supplier

A Nampa distributor of fertilizer alternatives and soil enhancement products has acquired the primary manufacturer of its bio-stimulant products in Texas.

Family-owned Integrated Biological Systems, founded in 1986 in Nampa, bought BioPlus Manufacturing in Hawkins, Texas, east of Dallas, for $409,000, said Angela Miller, who owns IBS with her husband Marvin and son Aaron.

BioPlus supplies about 90 percent of IBS’s merchandise and IBS was the primary customer for BioPlus, but expanding into manufacturing was more a necessity than part of the Miller family’s game plan. BioPlus was for sale.

“Somebody else could buy it and not supply us,” Angela Miller said. “This way we could maintain our sustainability. For us it was just a natural transition. Now that we are vested in it, we have flexibility and authority to go into other areas and develop other products.”

Integrated Biological Systems distributes to more than 200 farm customers, primarily in Idaho and Oregon and also  Nevada, Utah, Washington and Colorado. The BioPlus acquisition could lead to broader distribution to other states, she said.

“We’ll go wherever we want,” Miller said. “We’re open to anything and everything.”

She said they may go to more agricultural shows in the off-season to broaden the customer and geographic base.

The three Millers and one other person run IBS, while three people work at BioPlus, she said.

The purchase was financed by a loan from Missoula-based MoFi, formerly Mountain & Idaho Community Development Corp., which specializes in loans to viable businesses unable to get traditional bank loans. In the Millers’ case, a tradition bank could not issue a loan fast enough.

“MoFi is a good bridge if you need to have something fast,” Miller said.