AFGRI is a diversified agri services and industrial food processing company listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange with a market capitalisation of about R2 billion. In 1923 the Oos-Transvaalse Landboukošperasie (OTK) was founded by 29 farmers providing storage and technical services to farmers in what is now Mpumalanga. In 1963 the co-operative sold its first John Deere tractor through an agency agreement with John Deere which has now grown to be the single largest John Deere distributorship in Africa. The OTK commissioned its first grain silo at Marble Hall in 1963 and diversified into cotton ginning in 1975, milling in 1980 and poultry production in 1985. Following its IPO in 1996, the Company expanded in the industrial foods sector and value added agricultural services. In 2003 the Company changed its name to AFGRI Limited and in 2004 entered into its first broad-based black economic empowerment transaction. AFGRI today consists of: AFGRI Agri Services housing the assets and operations from the original farmersÕ co-operative; and AFGRI Financial Services which provides financial products to customers in the primary agricultural sector, the food processing sector and the Group as a whole.