The Growing History of Midwest Trading

Phone: (630) 365-1990 Monday - Friday: 7:30am - 4:00pm

Founded in 1981 by Peter and Irma Orum, Midwest Trading is headquartered in Virgil, Illinois and is the home of the precision mix plant facility. A bark processing facility located in Ottawa provides convenient access to the Illinois River for unloading barges of unprocessed bark material. The raw bark is processed, ground and screened to reach a specified particle size, which is incorporated into mixes or used directly as a mulch. A convenient pick-up facility is also located in St. Charles, home of Midwest Groundcovers headquarters.

What began as an off-shoot of Midwest Groundcovers, supplying peat, potting soil and mulch to landscapers and growers has evolved into a company dedicated to producing quality products to greenhouse growers, nursery growers, landscapers, rewholesalers and independent garden centers. Midwest Trading specializes in greenhouse and nursery mixes and proudly serves customers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Supplying The Midwest Green Industry For Over 40 Years

1981

Midwest Trading was formed by Peter and Irum Orum, as a result of the closure of J-M Trading’s Chicago warehouse. J-M Trading was a peat moss and horticulture supply distributor.

1993

Midwest Trading enters the bulk bark mulch business “for real” and leases a five-acre site on the Illinois River. Bark is unloaded and processed into finished materials - both for landscape and growing purposes.

1999

Midwest Trading becomes the first licensed producer of CU-Structural Soil in the Chicago area.

2004

A new, state of the art Mix Plant is built on the Virgil property in preparation for the loss of the original mix plant in St. Charles.

2005

Construction of the Midwest Trading Office and Facilities continues. In the Summer, a freak micro-burst levels the office building. Construction restarts and Midwest Trading employees move into the office in early October.

2014

Midwest Trading is the first in the Midwest to offer laser scanning for measuring load sizes of bark mulch. This technology allows customers to understand how much volume in material they purchased and were billed for.