United States

Department of

Agriculture

Rural BusinessCooperative

Service

Service

Report 57
Abstract This report catalogs information on many of the strategic restructuring activities involving agricultural cooperatives over the past 10 years. Cooperatives are looking to

restructure their organizations in more advantageous ways. Unifications, joint ventures,

agreements, strategic alliances, expansions, contractions, or revamping of operations

have been taking place in various capacities.

This document lists 346 restructuring activities of agricultural cooperatives. The period

covered is from January 1989 through July of 1998. Activities are listed, naming the

cooperative(s) involved, the type of activity, and a brief description of what occurred

and where.

Keywords: restructuring activity, unification, joint venture, expansion, contraction,

agreement, revamp

Cooperative Restructuring, 1989-l 998

James J. Wadsworth

USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service

Service Report 57

November 1998

Price: Domestic-$5; foreign-$5.50
Preface Agricultural cooperatives have been making many kinds of restructuring changes over

the years that can be identified. They range from mergers and consolidations to expansions and contractions. Agreements and joint ventures are commonplace. Agricultural

markets across the nation are being affected by what has occurred. More changes are

inevitable. If the past 10 years are any indication, the future cooperative environment

will be marked by many interesting changes. Studying the past can provide a glimpse

of what to expect in the future.

This report catalogs almost 10 years of cooperative restructuring activities. Most were

gleaned from reportings in USDA’s Rural Cooperatives magazine (formerly Farmer

Cooperatives) and recent news sources. Listings provide cooperative names, the type

of activity, and when and where it occurred.

This document is not a holistic effort in cataloging all restructuring activities of every

cooperative in the U.S. However, it contains considerable information about activities in

the past 10 years on a national basis.
Contents Highlights............................................................ii i

Catalog Description ....................................................l

Scopeof Activities .....................................................

.

Cooperatives in the Listing ..............................................4

Summary Observations .................................................5

Catalog-Cooperative Restructuring Activities ...............................6

From Various News Sources ........................................6

From Rural Cooperatives Magazine .................................. .9

Cataloglndex........................................................4 2

References .......................................................

..4 8

ii
Given a dynamic agricultural environment, domestically and globally, many cooperatives are reacting through restructuring. Expansions are at the forefront, followed by

unifications and joint ventures.

This report catalogs almost 10 years of such activity-from January 1989 through July

1998. The main source was USDA’s Rural Cooperatives magazine (formerly Farmer

Cooperatives). For more recent (much of 1998) activities, various news sources were

used.

Three hundred and forty-six cooperative restructuring activities are listed by date and

by type of activity. Each activity was defined by type: unification, joint venture, expansion, contraction, agreement, and revamping. The listing shows:

l 126 expansions (36 percent);

0 71 joint ventures (21 percent);

l 67 unifications (19 percent);

l 32 contractions (9 percent);

0 30 revampings (9 percent);

l 20 agreements (6 percent);

l the peak year was 1994 with 55 activities;

l 1995 followed with 52 activities;

l 1997 was lowest with only 19 activities;

l as of July, there were 32 activities in 1998;

l in the last 12 months (July/August 1997 through July 1998) there were 44 activities;

l the high year for expansions was 1994, with 26;

l ventures peaked with 12 (1995 and 1996), and unifications reached 16 in 1995;

l the most revampings (8) occurred in 1989;

l the top year for agreements was 4 in 1997;

l six contractions took place in 1989; and

l nearly 100 activities involved cooperatives and IOFs. Almost 50 percent consisted of

cooperative expansions and about 25 percent were joint ventures.

Most of the cooperatives are large and well known. Farmland Industries was represented in more than 30 activities and Land O’Lakes in more than 20. Other large cooperatives with notable listings were:

Harvest States Cooperatives

Ag Processing, Inc.

Dairy Farmers of America (formerly Mid-America Dairymen)

GROWMARK, Inc.

Universal Cooperatives

Countrymark Cooperative, Inc.

Tri Valley Growers

Agway Inc.

Gold Kist Inc.

CENEX

Ocean Spray Cranberries

Dairylea Cooperative

Agri-Mark, Inc.

Riceland Foods

Darigold Farms

Southern States Cooperative

111
Highlights Many interesting activities are listed, including relationships involving three or more

cooperatives and some involving distinct aspects of operations between cooperatives

(e.g., a merger of feed operations between Land O’Lakes and Harvest States). Some

activity resulted in major developments-a merger of four large dairy cooperatives to

form Dairy Farmers of America. There are cross-commodity/type activities such as the

unification of Michigan Livestock Exchange and Southern States. Some had activities

in foreign countries, a number being expansions and joint ventures. Farmland has an

ammonia plant venture in Trinidad and Tobago, for instance, and Riceland Foods has a

venture with some Japanese firms.

Restructuring activities are internal and external and quite often are combined. Some

cooperatives use external restructuring in unification, strategic alliances, or business

ventures, and then, in turn, undergo some form of internal restructuring (e.g., close

some plants or build others) to gain efficiencies or expand based on needs identified in

initial restructuring. Some cooperatives had a sequence of restructuring activities.

They restructured in steps or bunches. Examples are presented in the listing.

Cooperatives listed in these activities appear to be progressive about change and not

averse to entwining cooperative cultures. Conversely, some looked only to internal

restructuring and some had trouble following through with restructuring, even when it

was initiated. The answer to why some forged ahead into restructuring while others did

not is likely tied to cooperatives’ degree of financial strength, future outlook, and strategic planning initiatives.
Cooperative Restructuring, 1989-l 998

James J. Wadsworth

RBS Agricultural Economist

As key players in the agricultural sector, cooperatives are redefining markets on an accelerating basis.

Not a new phenomenon, cooperative restructuring

continues to alter the scope of traditional operations

across the United States. Particularly in the last couple

of years, cooperatives are making more nontraditional

restructurings (e.g., expansion, contraction, merger,

joint venture, agreement, etc.) than ever before.

Cooperatives representing different types of farmers

and farming operations in different capacities and

from vast regions are working together-developing,

assessing, and implementing various relationships and

changes.

Leaders, members, educators, and others interested in cooperatives often find it useful to study what

cooperatives are doing regarding various restructuring

efforts and actions. For cooperatives, what others are

doing can effect their markets and operations and

keeping apprised of that may breed ideas for improving their organizations through similar cooperative

efforts. For those interested in or studying cooperatives, keeping abreast of restructuring activities helps

in understanding ever-changing cooperative cultures

and the increasingly dynamic U.S. and global agricultural marketplace.

This report provides information on agricultural

cooperative structural changes by cataloging much of

the restructuring activity in the U.S. over the past 10

years. Restructurings are identified by date, cooperative name and region, and type of activity.

Catalog Description

Recent activities (most of 1998) were gleaned

from various news sources, but most were taken from

USDA’s Rural Cooperatives magazine (formerly

Farmer Cooperatives). Activity reporting dates cover

January 1989 through July 1998.

Most activities described relate to the larger cooperatives in the U.S., but some smaller ones are also represented. Restructuring took place from coast to coast

and often across single States and multiple States.

Activities were single-entity and multi-cooperative,

and involved investor-owned-firms (IOFs) in some

cases.

Activities are reported by month and year. A key

letter indicates the type of activity. A short description

identifies the cooperatives and activity involved. The

month and year shown indicate when the activity was

reported. Activities sourced from Rural Cooperatives

magazine indicate the date of the magazine from

which the activity was gleaned for reference purposes.

The catalog begins with recent activities and works

backward to 1989.

A key letter in parenthesis next to each listing

identifies the type of activity within one of six key categories (figure 1). The bold capital letters in each circle

serve as a key to the activities listed. The corresponding key letter and six activities are:

(Ul unification-includes merger, consolidation,

and acquisition among cooperatives;

(Cl contraction-selling assets, closing facilities,

ending products or services;

(Vl joint venture-business venture with another

cooperative or business (a legal entity is established,

limited liability company, partnership, cooperative,

etc.); l

(A) agreement-working relationship, pact, or

strategic alliance;

1 Joint ventures can take various legal forms. They may be

incorporated as a cooperative, partnership, or established as a

limited liability company (LLC). This report is not concerned with

defining the legal form, but rather in the business relationship or

organizational strategy employed.

1
Figure r-Restructuring Activities of Agricultural Cooperatives

Cooperative

Restructuring

Activities
5. (E) expansion-purchasing of assets or business Scope of Activities

units, building new facilities, expanding existing

facilities or operations, acquiring outside businesses; and

6. (R) revamp-upgrading or modifying operations,

services, functions, or organizational structure.

The cataloging of restructuring activities by this

system was done as consistently as possible. In most

cases, an expansion activity included purchasing

assets of a private company, building new facilities or

operations, or expanding in some fashion. In some

cases, expansion of one cooperative was also a contraction activity of another cooperative. Similar cases

resulted from unification where one cooperative

acquired another. Some redundant activities also are

listed. A unification activity may indicate that two

cooperatives are beginning talks and later, another unification activity will indicate that the same two cooperatives agreed to unify. Clearly, some joint ventures

(“V”) and unifications (“U”) are also expansions (“E”)

although those cases are listed as joint ventures.

Activities are defined to give the reader a key code for

identifying types of activities. The page index at the

back of this report identifies activities by date, type,

and title line.

Over the period studied and the information

reviewed, 346 restructuring activities are reported

(table 1). Seventy-one are defined as V-ventures, 67

U-unifications, 126 E-expansions, 32 C-contractions, 20 A-agreements, and 30 R-revampings. Most

activity was in expansions (36 percent) followed by

ventures and unifications at 20 percent and 19 percent,

respectively.

Table 1 also provides the number and type of

activities reported by year. The high year was 1994 (55

activities), followed by 1995 (52) and 1989 (45). The

low year was 1997 (19 activities). For 1998, there were

32 activities as of July.

The biggest year for expansion activities was

1994 (26) followed by 1989 (17). The peak years for

joint ventures were 1995 and 1996 (12 each). For unifications, 1995 had 16. There were 8 revampings and 6

contractions in 1989. Overall, contractions and agreements didn’t show much variation among the years.

These activities were limited.

The catalog contains nearly 100 listings involving

cooperatives and IOFs. Less than half the activities

involving cooperatives and IOFs consisted of cooperative expansions (cooperatives buying some or all of the

assets of IOFs). A quarter of these activities involved

Table l-Restructuring activities by type and year

Year V U E C A R Total

1998 8 7 9 5

1997 4 5 3 2

1996 12 4 13 4

1995 12 16 14 4

1994 7 12 26 5

1993 8 1 8 1

1992 7 10 13 2

1991 1 1 13 3

1990 4 6 10 0

1989 8 5 17 6

Totals

-

71

-

67

-

126

-

32

3

4

2

3

2

2

1

2

0

1

-

20

0 32

1 19

1 36

3 52

3 55

1 21

3 36

3 23

7 27

8 45

-

30 346

V=joint venture; U=unification; E=expansion; C=contraction; A=agreement; Fkrevamping (see figure 1).

1998 is year-to-date, as of July.

3
joint ventures and a fair number were agreements. In a

number of activities, IOFs acquired some or all of the

assets of cooperatives.

Cooperatives in the Listing

Most cooperatives listed are larger, well-known

organizations that have made significant restructuring

or strategic changes over the period covered. Farmland

Industries (MO) is represented by more than 30 listings in this report while Land O’Lakes (MN) had more

than 20. Harvest States (MN), Ag Processing, Inc. (NE),

and Dairy Farmers of America (MO&formerly MidAmerica Dairymen-had more than 15 activities.

Other major players were GROWMARK, Inc. (IL),

Universal Cooperatives (MN), Countrymark

Cooperative (IN), Tri Valley Growers (CA), Agway Inc.

(NY), Gold Kist Inc. (GA), CENEX, Inc. (MN), Ocean

Spray Cranberries (MA), Dairylea Cooperative (NY)

Agri-Mark, Inc. (MA), Riceland Foods (AR), Darigold

Farms (WA), and Southern States Cooperatives (VA).

Some of the artificial insemination cooperatives are

listed as well as CoBank, the cooperative financier.

Considerable restructuring activity (44 listings)

has taken place in the past 1Zmonth period of

July/August 1997 through July 1998. Some were interesting developments. For example, Farmland, CENEX,

and Universal Cooperatives formed a limited liability

company to handle their tires, batteries, and automotive accessories (September/October 1997 *). U.S.

Premium Beef purchased an ownership interest in

Farmland National Beef Packing Co.

(November/December 1997). Land O’Lakes and

Harvest States formed a feed venture

(January/February 1998) to merge feed operations in

six Midwest States. Thirteen Oklahoma cooperatives

including Farmland are investing in a new flourmill

(June 1998). Southern States of Richmond, VA, purchased the farm supply assets of Gold Kist Inc. of

Atlanta, GA, that will expand Southern States market

area. Agrilink Foods (subsidiary of Pro-Fat) at

Rochester, NY, expanded by acquiring assets from two

companies in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Some major developments also should be noted.

Land O’Lakes merged with Atlantic Dairy

Cooperative, solidifying a 17-year working relationship (March/April 1997). The mega-cooperative, Dairy

Farmers of America, was formed (September/October

1997) from the unification of four dairy cooperatives2 Dates are reference points indicating when activity was reported.

Reader may refer to the catalog for more information on

corresponding activity.

Mid-American Dairymen, Associated Milk Producers,

Inc., Southern Region, Western Dairymen Cooperative,

and Milk Marketing, Inc. The unification of CENEX

and Harvest States Cooperatives was approved by

members (November/December 1997 and

March/April 1998). Land O’Lakes and Dairyman’s

Cooperative Creamery merged (May 1998).

Countrymark and Land O’Lakes were discussing unification (June 1998) after they first announced talks

about a joint venture (May 1998). Farmland formed a

grain-based alliance with ConAgra in a dual-entity

working arrangement (May 1998).

While most joint restructuring activities among

cooperatives involve like-type operations, the listing

also shows a number of cross-commodity actions. For

example, a livestock and a farm supply cooperative

unified (i.e., Michigan Livestock Exchange and

Southern States-November/December 19971, a service and dairy cooperative allied (i.e., Northeast Dairy

Herd Improvement Association and Dairylea

Cooperative-March/April 1997), and dairy and livestock cooperatives unified (i.e., Dairylea Cooperative

and Empire Livestock Cooperative-May 1995).

Four expansions resulted in contraction activities

of other cooperatives. The July 1998 purchase by

Southern States of the farm supply retail outlets of

Gold Kist was an expansion for Southern States, but a

contraction for Gold Kist. Also significant was the purchase of the Washington State operations of U.S. Grape

by Welch’s (subsidiary of National Grape) in February

1990.

A handful of listings involved U.S. cooperative

restructuring activities in foreign countries. There are a

few joint ventures with foreign companies, an expansion effort involving asset purchase, a unification, and

an agreement. For instance, Dairy Farmers of America

has a cheese venture with a New Zealand Dairy Board

subsidiary (February 1998), Farmland has an ammonia

plant venture in Trinidad and Tobago (April 1996),

Land O’Lakes has a livestock feed venture in Taiwan

(March/April 1996), and Riceland Foods has a venture

with two Japanese firms (August 1993). GROWMARK

purchased the assets of the largest farm supply cooperative in Ontario, Canada (February 1995), and Ag

Processing purchased the assets of a Canadian feed

firm (September 1994). An agreement between 21st

Century Genetics and Holland Genetics was reported

in June 1994.

A couple of restructurings involved the financial

institutions serving cooperatives. CoBank expanded

into Mexico by opening an office in Mexico City (May
1994). In a three-way move, CoBank, the Springfield

Bank for Cooperatives, and the Farm Credit Bank of

Springfield merged (January 1995).

Working toward and negotiating consolidations

is a difficult task for cooperatives, one that often fails.

In October 1995, Land O’Lakes and Ag Processing

announced plans to work toward unification, but later

called off the talks.

Summary Observations

In a mature, dynamic, and fast-changing agricultural marketplace, farmer cooperatives are finding it

necessary to consolidate and cooperate with each other

and/or alter their internal structures to meet the challenges in their external environments. This is evident

in the multitude of restructurings that have and are

continuing to occur among major cooperatives in the

United States.

Many cooperatives are restructuring to remain or

become more efficient domestically, and in some cases,

globally, in order to compete with agribusiness entities

that have size and/or resource advantages. Many unification activities identify with that strategy. Most unifications seek to achieve greater efficiencies, develop

value-added products, and improve market access.

Other actions are similar. Joint ventures, agreements,

and strategic alliances are pushing the envelope for

gains in efficiency and size economies. Other cooperatives are scaling back operations aimed at improved

internal efficiencies and focus.

Figure z-cooperative Structural Change Actions

Cooperatives F/

Internal: expand

contract, or modify

physical assets

and/or market

penetration.

External: unify,

develop joint

ventures, strategic

alliances, or

agreements.

Restructuring is either external or internal. Figure

2 shows the distinction. Some cooperatives use both

strategies to position and improve their organizations.

For instance, Mid-America Dairymen used numerous

external restructuring efforts (e.g., unifications with

other dairy cooperatives) and then often followed with

various internal restructuring activities (e.g., selling

existing plants, building new plants, etc.) to tighten the

focus of their strategic effort. Mid-Am’s restructuring

was fairly continuous and the cooperative eventually

joined with other large dairy cooperatives in forming

Dairy Farmers of America.

Many regional agricultural cooperatives, at one

time serving specified regional areas to serve certain

types of farmers, are reaching beyond traditional

boundaries and service priorities to better compete for

the future. Cooperatives are seeking varied combinations with other cooperatives or IOFs.

The value-added concept is at the restructuring

forefront. Cooperative members are looking not only

to produce commodities to sell raw, but also to vertically integrate and develop commodities into highervalue end-products. Many of the joint ventures and

expansions listed indicate that trend.

While it is clear that restructuring activities are

continuing among many cooperatives, how these are

occurring is less clear. Why are cooperatives selecting

certain partners and not others? Why are some cooperatives very active in restructuring while others are

reluctant to participate? What makes some cooperatives move quickly and proactively change while others take their time and often don’t act? The answers

are tied to the financial and industry position, future

outlook, strategic planning initiatives, and leadership

of the cooperatives. Available resources, ability to plan

for the future, degree of progressiveness, willingness

to cooperate with industry counterparts, and the prevailing attitude about entwining cooperative cultures

indicate how quickly and ably cooperatives are willing

to devise and initiate restructuring strategies.

The work of this report will continue. Future

restructurings will be added to the listing.

Additionally, more study into the dynamic agricultural

markets and the players in them is needed.

Cooperative leaders need to know what their industry

counterparts are doing, keep abreast of successful

strategies for positioning their organizations into

changing markets, and develop further cooperation

among cooperatives.

5
Catalog-Cooperative Restructuring

Activities

Restructuring activities are listed by month and

years as derived from various news sources and

USDA’s Rural Cooperatives magazine (formerly Farmer

Cooperatives).

From Various News Sources

July 1998

MLE Marketing Co-op To Close Markets (C)

A decision by MLE Marketing Co-op to close 13 of the

16 hog-buying markets it owns or manages in Indiana

will be a painful blow to smaller hog farmers. The closings are prompted by the expected shutdown of a

Detroit slaughterhouse, Thorn Apple Valley, which

bought most of the 2.5 million hogs purchased by MLE

in Indiana and three surrounding states last year. The

Detroit plant, which employs 1,000, will close, victim

of intense competition in the low-profit meatpacking

industry. Without Thorn Apple, MLE will probably

need to buy only 1.5 million hogs a year. Many can be

shipped directly from farms without using stockyards

as collecting points.

AgriBioTech and FFR Cooperative To

Form Alliance (A)

AgriBioTech, Inc., and FFR Cooperative have signed a

letter of intent to form a long-term, worldwide

research alliance to develop and commercialize

improved proprietary seed products. The letter outlines how AgriBioTech and FFR will form a long-term

research alliance to develop improved proprietary

seed products, and details other intentions regarding

selection and distribution of elite genetic material,

biotechnology assets, production, funding, and other

matters.

Agrilink Foods To Acquire Dean’s Vegetable

Business (E)

Agrilink Foods, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Pro-Fat Cooperative at Rochester, NY, has reached a

definitive agreement with Dean Foods Company of

Franklin Park, IL, to acquire Dean’s vegetable operations, which include the nationally known Birds Eye,

Freshlike, and VegAll brands. The transaction consists

of about $400 million in cash and Agrilink’s aseptic

foods, in Benton Harbor, MI. The transaction is subject

to regulatory approval.

DeKalb Agra To Dissolve (C)

A co-op that has served farmers in northeastern

Indiana for 68 years will dissolve itself and key assets

will be sold to competitors. The decision by DeKalb

Agra’s board to sell out is rare in the farm cooperative

movement. Directors had to “swallow pretty hard”

before approving the sale 9-O. If approved by the coop’s 1,176 active members, DeKalb Agra will sell its

grain-handling facilities to Central Soya Co. of Fort

Wayne, IN; its fertilizer business and retail farm center

to the Andersons of Maumee, OH; its propane business to Hoosier Propane; and its liquid fuels business

to North Central Co-op of Wabash, IN.

Agrilink Foods Acquires Hopay Distributing (E)

Agrilink Foods, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Pro-Fat Cooperative of Rochester, NY, has acquired

J.A. Hopay Distributing Co., Inc., of Pittsburgh, PA.

Hopay has 21 routes which distribute potato chips and

other snacks for Snyder of Berlin, an Agrilink business

unit in Berlin, PA, and other non-competing snack

products in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area.

CENEX Harvest States To Build New Soybean

Facility (E)

CENEX Harvest States will build a $40 million soybean-crushing facility near Fairmont, MN. The plant

will employ at least 30 people and will process at least

60,000 bushels of soybeans a day, or about 5 percent of

Minnesota’s total soybean output. The facility will be

built on 20 acres in thel60-acre parcel in southwest

Minnesota, allowing room for future expansion. It is

expected to be open by Fall 2001.

Farmland and Farmers Petroleum Propose

Merger (U)

Farmland Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, plans to

merge with Farmers Petroleum Cooperative, Inc., of

Lansing, MI. Farmers Petroleum, which has 4,100

members, is owned by Michigan farm cooperatives,

individual farmers, and the Michigan Farm Bureau.

Petroleum continues to be a major business unit for

Farmland. Under the merger, Farmland would operate

the five retail facilities now operated by Farmers

Petroleum.

SSC To Acquire Gold Kist Farm

Supply Assets (E)

Southern States Cooperative (SSC) of Richmond, VA,

signed a letter of intent to acquire the retail farm supply assets of Gold Kist Inc., one of the nation’s largest

6
poultry producers. The purchase will take SSC into

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,

Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.

GROWMARK Buys Seed Plant (E)

GROWMARK, Inc., the regional farm supply and grain

marketing cooperative based in Illinois, has purchased

Novartis Seeds Inc., of Bloomington, IL, for an undisclosed amount. The purchase agreement will become

effective after directors of both companies approve the

deal later this summer. GROWMARK will convert the

seed corn conditioning facility to process soybean seed

because of strong demand for its FS HiSoy soybean

lines.

June 1998

Foremost Farms To Close Golden

Guernsey Dairy (C)

Foremost Farms USA is closing Golden Guernsey

Dairy, the last remaining dairy out of dozens that once

provided milk in Wausau, WI. The shutdown in mid1999 will put 89 employees out of work. The plant has

insufficient cooler space and is too land-locked to

expand. Milk production and distribution will be

moved to two other Foremost plants in Waukesha and

De Pere after the shutdown.

Grain Firms Pursuing Joint Venture (V)

Minnesota’s CENEX Harvest States is working with

United Grain Corporation (UGC) on a joint venture to

combine their wheat and barley operations in the

Western United States. CENEX Harvest States is an

integrated, farm-to-consumer cooperative involved in

activities ranging from oil refining/pipeline operations

and distribution of farm supplies, to the marketing

and processing of grain and food products. UGC is a

wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui USA and Mitsui &

Co., Ltd. of Japan. The joint venture will include

UGC’s export elevator at Vancouver, WA, and the

Kalama, WA, export facility operated by CENEX

Harvest States.

Dakota Growers To Build New Milling Unit (E)

Dakota Growers Pasta Co.‘s board of directors has

authorized the construction of a new milling unit at its

Carrington, ND, durum milling and pasta production

facility. The new mill is expected to be completed by

February 1999. Plans for the grower-owned cooperative’s third milling unit were made to meet the need

for semolina at the Carrington and Minneapolis-area

production plants. The new milling unit could add as

much as 5 million bushels to the plant’s current 7 million bushel-per-year capacity.

Countrymark Co-op, Land O’Lakes Discuss

Unification (U)

Countrymark Cooperative of Indianapolis, IN, and

Land O’Lakes, of Minneapolis, MN, are expanding the

scope of their recent alliance talks to include a much

more complete unification of business. The talks

involve management and committees of the two

boards of directors. In addition to investigating the

advantages of a joint venture in feed, the cooperatives

will consider the benefits of combining Countrymark

Co-op’s streamlined agricultural supply operations

with Land O’Lakes.

Grain Cooperatives Invest In Flour Mill (V)

A group of Oklahoma wheat farmers will soon do

more than just grow their crop-they’ll mill it too.

Thirteen Oklahoma cooperatives formed a company

known as Southwest Grain Marketers, LLC, to invest

$16 million and build Country Home Milling in

Saginaw, TX. The venture will mill wheat into flour for

specialty breads, such as bagels, pizza dough, highquality rolls, and tortillas. Southwest Grain will contribute one-third of the cost of the new mill, while Bay

State Milling Co. of Quincy, MA, and Farmland

Industries of Kansas City, MO, the balance.

Land O’Lakes, Dairyman’s Plan Major

Cheese Whey Plant (E)

Following the recent decision by members of Land

O’Lakes at Minneapolis, MN, and Dairyman’s

Cooperative Creamery Association of Tulare, CA, to

merge on July 1, the two cooperatives plan to equip

and operate a large-scale cheese and whey fractions

facility in Tulare. Dairyman’s recently acquired a

300,000-square-foot food processing facility in anticipation of the business venture with Land O’Lakes.

May 1998

Land 0’ Lakes, Dairyman’s Merger

Plan Approved (U)

Members of Land O’Lakes, of Minneapolis, MN, and

Dairyman’s Cooperative Creamery Association, of

Tulare, CA, have given final approval to a July 1 merger that will make Land O’Lakes a $5 billion national

cooperative.
Farmland Venture With ConAgra (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, plans to

form a grain-based alliance with ConAgra, Inc., of

Omaha, NE, one of the country’s largest independent

food company. The unique alliance contains two entities. The first is Concourse Grain, LLC, an organization

created to improve the position of wheat moving

through the Farmland system. The second involves

joint ownership of ConAgra’s Atwood-Kellogg subsidiary, which will provide grain-merchandising services to members and customers.

Concourse Grain, LLC, will market wheat originated

by Farmland and certain wheat originated by

ConAgra, thus providing both domestic and global

wheat consumers access to multiple classes of wheat.

International consumers will be served from multiple

export points across the U.S. In addition, Farmland

purchased a 50-percent stake in Atwood-Kellogg,

which will be renamed Farmwood-Atwood, LLC. This

entity will function as an independent provider of risk

management, financial and grain support services and

grain brokerage.

Ag Processing Plans Cooperation (V)

Ag Processing, Inc., of Omaha, NE, and Harvest States

Cooperatives, of St. Paul, MN, plan to operate some of

their oilseed processing and refining facilities in a joint

venture. The two cooperatives signed a letter of intent

that would apply to Ag Processing plants at

Emmetsburg, IA, and Hastings, NE, and a facility that

Harvest States plans to build in southwest Minnesota

or southeastern South Dakota. A definitive agreement

on the joint venture is due after Harvest States merges

with CENEX, Inc., and would be subject to approval

by Ag Processing’s board and shareholders and the

CENEX Harvest States board.

Countrymark, LOL Announce Joint Venture

Discussions (V)

Countrymark Co-op, based in Indianapolis, IN, and

Land O’Lakes of Minneapolis, MN, plan to discuss a

joint venture. The planned talks will involve committees of the two boards of directors and will focus on

opportunities to enhance overall operations, specifically the cooperatives’ livestock businesses. The committees also will explore opportunities to help livestock

producers develop their business in the Countrymark

trade territory.

Farmland To Buy SF Services (U)

SF Services of North Little Rock, AR, whose smalltown farm supply stores racked up $623 million in

1997 sales, is being bought by Farmland Industries,

Inc., of Kansas City, MO. Arkansas has at least 83 SFaffiliated stores spread from Almyra to Wynne.

Another 420 locations are scattered through east Texas,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, with some locations

in Alabama and Kansas. Any sale must be approved

by the 126 store-owning members of SF.

April 1998

Pro-Fat Buying Business (E)

The farmer-owned Pro-Fat Cooperative at Rochester,

NY, plans to acquire a Minneapolis-based nutritionmedical business that supplies hospitals and health

care facilities with private labeled nutritional products.

Proposed Merger of Land O’Lakes

and Dairyman’s Co-op Creamery (U)

Land O’Lakes of Minneapolis, MN, wants to beef up

its presence in the West via merger with Dairyman’s

Cooperative Creamery Association of Tulare, CA. The

two cooperatives have a long history together.

Dairyman’s has been making butter for Land O’Lakes

for 15 years. Members of the two cooperatives could

receive and vote on a formal merger proposal within

45 days.

DFA To Close Plant (C)

Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, MO, will close

its plant at Bloomer, WI, putting 24 people out of

work. The plant manufactures dehydrated products

used in other food products.

Premier Roasters Acquires Tri Valley Unit (C)

Tri Valley Growers (TVG), of San Ramon, CA, has sold

its coffee business to a new entity, Premier Roasters,

LLC. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed

except that Premier Roasters purchased the assets of

TVG’s coffee business. Premier Roasters will license

the use of the S&W label from TVG. TVG will continue

to sell and distribute coffee products on behalf of

Premier Roasters for a period of time to ensure a

smooth transition.

March 1998

Mid-Oklahoma Co-op Formed (U)

Members of the Kingfisher Co-op Elevator Association

and Farmers Cooperative Association have agreed to

8
merge. Cooperatives at County Line, Kingfisher,

Okarche, Omega, Piedmont, Watonga and Yukon will

form the Mid-Oklahoma Cooperative April 1,199s.

Directors selected from each location will serve 4-year

terms. Mid-Oklahoma will have a total wheat intake of

3 million to 3.5 million bushels and a storage capacity

of 4.75 million bushels for wheat, milo, oats, soybeans,

and other crops.

February 1998

Dairy Farmers of America Form Joint Venture

With NZDB Subsidiary (V)

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Kansas City, MO,

and Milk Products Holdings (MPH), a wholly-owned

subsidiary of the New Zealand Dairy Board have

formed a new joint venture to process and market

graded cheese. The venture is based on DFA’s business

operations in Wisconsin. The facilities there include

equipment for filling, packaging, and storing

Parmesan and Roman0 cheese under a multitude of

different labels and package configurations for retail,

institutional, and industrial markets.

From Rural Cooperatives Magazine

March/April 1998

Ocean Spray and Pepsi Extend Distribution

Agreement (A)

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., and Pepsi-Cola

Company have extended their agreement covering distribution of single-serve Ocean Spray fruit juices and

juice drinks in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, Pepsi and individual independent Pepsi franchise bottlers will continue to distribute Ocean Spray

single-serve beverages to supermarkets, convenience

stores, vending machines, and other retail outlets for at

least three more years. The extension sets the stage for

what both companies hope will be a more lasting relationship. During the past 6 years of the alliance, Ocean

Spray has risen from the sixth biggest player in singleserve juices and drinks to No. 2. The Ocean

Spray/Pepsi alliance sells more than $350 million in

product in North America.

Dakota Growers Details Prim0

Piatto Purchase (E)

Dakota Growers Pasta Company of Carrington, ND,

paid $11 million in cash and 30,000 shares of convertible preferred stock to acquire Primo Piatto, Inc., a

Minneapolis-based pasta producer, in February 1998.

In a March 11 filing with the Securities and Exchange

Commission, Dakota Growers said the total number of

convertible preferred shares would be reduced if the

net debt of Primo Piatto were found to be in excess of

$8 million. If the net debt is less, the cash portion of the

purchase price will increase. The acquisition was funded by a loan from the St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives.

CENEX, Harvest States Members Approve

Unification (U)

The members of CENEX, Inc., and Harvest States

Cooperatives have overwhelmingly approved unification to form CENEX Harvest States Cooperatives, one

of the Nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. The

unification will take effect June 1,199s. About 88 percent of CENEX members and 91 percent of Harvest

States members favored creating a farmer-owned

cooperative spanning the full range of food production

from farm supplies to processing and marketing to

consumer products.

January/February 1998

Farmers Form Co-op To Buy Bean Plant (V)

The 21st Century Alliance, an organization of 750

farmers in Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, and

Oklahoma, has formed The 21st Century Bean

Processing Cooperative to purchase Bean Acres Inc., a

dry/edible bean processing facility with corporate

offices in Sharon Springs, KS. The purchase would follow a $1 million stock offering to bean producers,

mostly in Kansas and Nebraska. Initially, the new

cooperative would clean and bag pinto beans with the

option of adding other types of beans later. Deadline

for buying membership stock is April 15. Other cooperative efforts initiated by the 21st Century Alliance

include purchase of a flour mill in New Mexico and a

milk production facility scheduled to go on line in

September.

LOL, Harvest States in Feed Venture (V)

A joint venture to merge feed operations in six

Midwest States has been formed by two Minnesotabased cooperatives, Land O’Lakes, Inc., and Harvest

States Cooperatives. The agreement will be final and

implemented by mid-year. It would unite 16 mills in

North and South Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska,

and the western third of Minnesota into a single structure that would be owned and jointly managed by the

two cooperatives. The merger involves only plants in

overlapping territories. The goal is to create a more

cost-effective source of high-quality feeds. Both coop9
eratives believe they will have the more depth in areas

of species programs, research, training and analysis as

well as a wider variety of products to better serve their

members.

LOL Feed Agreement (A)

Land O’Lakes’ (LOL), western feed division and

Bleyhl Farm Service, Inc., a local cooperative at

Grandview, WA, have agreed to a co-packing and facility leasing agreement that could lead to an acquisition

of Bleyhl’s feed assets at its plant in Granger, WA-the

site of a fire in 1996. The cooperative serves producers

in the Yakima Valley of central Washington and north

central Oregon. LOL’s western feed division, based in

Seattle, serves nine feed facilities in the Pacific

Northwest.

November/December 1997

Beef Co-op Buys Into Farmland (V)

U.S. Premium Beef Ltd., a closed cooperative owned

by beef producers, has purchased an ownership interest in Farmland National Beef Packing Co., making it

the only major beef packing company to be fully

owned by producers.

Agrilink Foods To Buy DelAgra (E)

Agrilink Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pro-Fat

Cooperative, at Rochester, NY, has signed a letter of

intent to purchase the assets and business of DelAgra

Corp., a producer of private label frozen vegetables

based in Bridgeville, DE. The purchase fits with

Agrilink’s strategic plan to expand its frozen vegetable

business by providing increased sales volume and production capacity in a different part of the country.

LOL to Merchandise Millfeeds (A)

Land O’Lakes, of Minneapolis, MN, has signed an

exclusive agreement with American Italian Pasta Co.

to merchandise millfeeds generated by American

Italian’s new milling facility in Columbia, SC.

Michigan Livestock, Southern States

Eye Merger (U)

Michigan Livestock Exchange and its subsidiaries,

which have 60,000 members and sales that topped

$700 million in 1996, would become the livestock marketing division of Southern States Cooperative based

at Richmond, VA, under a proposed merger.

CENEX, Harvest States Merger Goes to

Membership (U)

Members of two leading Upper Midwest agricultural

cooperatives-CENEX and Harvest States

Cooperatives-will be asked to vote on a unification

plan April 1 which would create a new cooperative

with about $10 billion in annual sales. Both firms are

headquartered near Minneapolis, MN.

September/October 1997

Dairy Farmers of America Formed (U)

Members of four leading U.S. dairy marketing cooperatives (Mid-America Dairymen, Milk Marketing Inc.,

AMP1 Southern Region, and Western Dairymen

Cooperative, Inc.) have voted to consolidate into one

mega cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, at

Kansas City, MO. The new cooperative will handle

about 21 percent of the Nation’s milk supply; serve

22,000 members in 42 States; will have combined sales

of nearly $7 billion; and will have a marketing volume

of more than 32.5 billion pounds of milk (1996).

Swiss Valley Buys Wisconsin Facilities (E)

Swiss Valley Farms Company, Davenport, IA, purchased cheese processing plants in Wisconsin, one of

them owned by Tri-State Milk Cooperative, at West

Salem, WI.

Cooperatives Form Tire Company (V)

A limited liability company, which will handle tires,

batteries, automotive accessories, and antifreeze, has

been formed by Farmland Industries, Kansas City,

MO, CENEX, St. Paul, MN, and Universal

Cooperatives, an interregional supply cooperative

based in Minneapolis, MN. The new Triton Tire and

Battery Co., will be headquartered in Minneapolis. The

combination eliminates much of the duplication existing in combined trade territories and customer bases

of the three cooperatives and will result in significant

efficiency gained in both marketing and distribution

for the partners.

Heartland Co-op Sold to Competitor (C)

Seven grain elevators owned by Heartland

Cooperative, Inc. in south central Illinois, were purchased by Cargill Inc., Minnetonka, MN. Heartland

was formed in 1989 by the merger of cooperatives at

Villa Grove and Tuscola, Ill.

10
July/August 1997

Beef Producers Buy Half of

Farmland Packer (V)

U.S. Premium Beef Ltd., a closed cooperative based in

Manhattan, KS, has agreed to purchase half interest in

Farmland National Beef Packing Co., the fourth largest

beef processor in the nation. Farmland National Beef

processed nearly 8 percent of U.S.-fed cattle in 1996-

1997 at its facilities in Liberal and Dodge City, KS. The

partnership is expected to create another way for producers to participate in Farmland’s farm-to-table system, which provides individual producers the business

advantages typically held only by traditional, vertically integrated processors.

MM/, Alfa Lava/ in Pact (A)

An exclusive supply agreement has been reached

between Milk Marketing Inc. (MMI) of Strongsville,

OH, and Alfa Lava1 Agri of Kansas City, MO. Alfa, the

world’s largest dairy supplier, will provide sanitation

and milkhouse supplies, capital equipment and service

for the 7,500-member dairy cooperative operating in 11

northeastern States. MM1 cited changes in the agricultural economy for discontinuing its former farm supply division.

MMI, Independent Cooperative Supply

Agreement (A)

Milk Marketing, Inc., of Strongsville, OH, and

Independent Cooperative Milk Producers Association,

of Grand Rapids, MI, have agreed to a milk supply

arrangement that includes the sale of the Michigan

cooperative’s Kalamazoo Creamery Co., and assets to

MMI.

May/June 1997

Kentucky Livestock Exchange Expands (E)

Two marketing outlets have been added to Kentucky

Livestock Exchange’s service area to help attract new

members to the cooperative. Last fall, the exchange

acquired a multi-species livestock market in Irvington

and a new market was opened this spring in at

Owenton.

California Pear Growers Scale Back (C)

The board of directors of the California Pear Growers

has voted to limit the company’s primary functions to

bargaining services. Most of its other functions will be

transferred to the California Pear Advisory Board, the

State pear marketing order. The board cited the sagging economic conditions of the pear industry as a factor in its decision. The positions of president and field

representative were consolidated and a bookkeeper

position was eliminated.

March/April 1997

Farmland Signs Sulfur Processing Pact (A)

A sulfur processing facility is under construction next

to Farmland Industries’ petroleum refinery at

Coffeyville, KN. Completion is scheduled for October.

The project is part of a 20-year agreement signed

between Farmland and Tessenderlo/KERLEY Inc., a

wholly owned subsidiary of Tessenderlo USA Inc.

Tessenderlo is building the plant and applying its proprietary technology to convert petroleum sulfur gas

byproducts into potassium thiosulfate fertilizer-a

high quality liquid plant nutrient. Farmland will benefit from improved refinery economics by significantly

improving its ability to process higher sulfur (lower

cost) crude oil.

RGA Eyes Biotech Venture (V)

Entry into the biotechnology business may help

improve the outlook for Rice Growers Association

(RGA) of California in Sacramento. A 25-year business

partnership with Applied Phytologics Inc. (API), of

Sacramento, was being studied. The proposal is subject

to approval by both boards. API would supply genetically altered seed to RGA growers, who would plant

the crop, monitor its progress and harvest it for further

processing. RGA would gain exclusive rights to APIdeveloped agricultural services and businesses. API

gains a significant laboratory to develop its genetically

engineered products. API was formed in 1993 and

does genetic research in a wide range of biopharmaceutical and industrial products. RGA has about 250

members.

Tri Valley Revamps Transportation Center (l?)

California-based Tri Valley Growers (TVG) has reorganized its transportation service center as part of a

series of moves to more closely align the growerowned cooperative with its core businesses of food

marketing, growing and processing. The reorganization will shift ownership and management of about

half of the company’s Modesto-based trucking fleet to

a trucking specialist company. TVG’s transportation

service center had owned or leased 60 trucks and

employed as many as 110 full-time or seasonal drivers,

mechanics, and administrative personnel. The co-op

11
will now own or lease only 17 trucks and will reduce

its transportation staff to 60 full-time or seasonal drivers and related support staff.

Dairylea, DHIA Combining Operations (U)

Cooperative Dairy One Inc., has been formed from the

merger of Northeast Dairy Herd Improvement

Association, Ithaca, NY, and Dairylea Cooperative,

Inc., of Syracuse, NY. Dairy One’s mission will be to

bring about needed changes in the dairy industry and

ensure that the Northeast remains a strong and viable

region for dairying and dairy services.

Atlantic, Land O’Lakes Merge (U)

Members of two of the nation’s leading dairy marketing cooperatives have approved the merger of Atlantic

Dairy Cooperative (ADC), of Philadelphia, PA, with

Land O’Lakes (LOL), of Minneapolis, MN. The merger

solidifies a I’/-year relationship between the two cooperatives. ADC’s administrative operations at

Southhampton, PA, will be maintained, as will its field

staff and the staff of its Holly Milk manufacturing

operation. LOL’s governance system will be adopted

and all ADC members will become members of LOL.

November/December 1996

Harvest States Expands Milling Activities (E)

Milling activities were expanded this year at Harvest

States Cooperative-a new mill at Kenosha, WI, began

operations and a second is under construction at

Houston, TX. A third is in planning stages.

Iowa REC’s Form Service Company (V)

Four rural electric cooperatives in eastern Iowa have

formed a service company to coordinate marketing,

economic development and support functions in their

trade territories. Members of New Resources, Inc.

(NRI) are: East-Central Iowa REC in Vinton; East Iowa

Light and Power Cooperative in Wilton; Linn County

REC in Marion; and Maquoketa Valley REC in

Anamosa. Creation of NRI formalizes a prior joint services arrangement among the four organizations. It

will allow them to capitalize on economies of scale and

better use of resources while retaining the distinct

advantage of local ownership and control.

September/October 1996

Regionals Buy Mexican Feed Company (V)

Countrymark Cooperative, Inc., of Indianapolis, IN,

and GROWMARK Inc., of Bloomington, Ill., have

12

announced their joint purchase from Unilever of Malta

Clayton, a leading feed manufacturer in Mexico. Malta

Clayton manufactures livestock and specialty feeds

and employs more than 600 people at six plants strategically located in northern and central Mexico.

Mid-Am Expands Cheese Plant (E)

Mid-America Dairymen of Springfield, MO, has begun

construction of a $4.8 million addition to its existing

cheese manufacturing plant at Harington, NE. New

equipment includes a state-of-the-art shredder line to

provide additional service to one of Mid-Am’s largest

pizza customers. Mid-Am purchased the Harington

plant in 1986, converted it to make mozzarella, and

nearly tripled the capacity. The plant is also equipped

to concentrate the whey from the cheese-making operation and ship it to Mid-Am’s plant at Norfolk, NE, for

further processing.

Dakota Soybean Processors Open Plant (E)

South Dakota Soybean Processors, a 2,100-member

cooperative, opened a $32.5 million soybean processing plant near Volga, SD.

Wilsey, Holsum Complete Venture (V)

Arrangements have been completed for a joint venture

between Wilsey Foods Inc., (subsidiary of Mitsui USA

and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. of Japan) and Holsum Foods, a

division of Harvest States Cooperatives of St. Paul,

MN. Both Holsum and Wilsey are food processing and

packaging companies that provide a variety of branded and private label products to the food service

industry and retail operations. The intent is to serve

customers with nationwide and international distributions needs.

July/August 1996

Equity Livestock Acquires Midwest

in Wisconsin (U)

The largest livestock marketing cooperative in

Wisconsin, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales

Association at Baraboo, has become the dominant

cooperative of its type in the State with its purchase of

Midwest Livestock Producers of Francis Creek.

AGP Okays Emmetsburg Soybean Plant (E)

The board of directors of Ag Processing, Inc., at

Omaha, NE, has approved final plans for a new soybean processing plant at Emmetsburg in northern
Iowa. This will be AGE’s eighth soybean processing

plant and will offer an additional market for members’

soybeans.

Empire Livestock Consolidates Operations (C)

In an effort to improve its financial standing, Empire

Livestock Marketing Cooperative, Ithaca, NY, has

announced closing of its Oneonta, NY, market and the

consolidation of operations with Central Bridge

Livestock Market.

LOL Opens Grain Flaking Facility (E)

Land O’Lakes, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, has opened a

new grain flaking and commodity transloading facility

at Gooding, ID.

Farmland System Opens 100th AMPRIDE (E)

The Farmland system of cooperatives has opened its

100th AMPRIDE retail fueling station. The modern

convenience store and fueling station at Hastings, NE,

is jointly owned by Farmers Cooperative Association

at Red Cloud, NE, and Cooperative Producers Inc. at

Hastings.

Kansas Co-ops Invest in Westland Terminal (V)

Six additional Kansas cooperatives have invested in

Westland Terminal, LLC, at Ogallah, a joint grain terminal venture originally formed in 1995 by Midwest

Cooperative at Quinter, Midland Marketing

Cooperative at Hays, and Farmland Industries. The

new cooperative investors are United Ag Service Inc.,

at Gorham, Linaria Merchantile Association at Linaria,

Logan Farmers Union Co-op at Logan, Ransom

Farmers Co-op Union at Ransom, Scott Cooperative

Association at Scott City, and Farmers Co-op Elevator

at Dighton.

Mid-Am Sells Plant to Venture Partners (V)

Mid-America Dairymen of Springfield, MO, has sold

its Gillette ice cream plant at Norfolk, NE, to its two

venture partners, Highland Dairy Foods Co. of

Springfield, MO, and Roberts Dairy Company of

Omaha, NE. The agreement is meant to solidify the ice

cream operations of both partners and puts them in a

better competitive position. Although Mid-Am no

longer owns the plant, members will continue to earn

profits through joint-venture profit sharing by the affiliated companies.

May/June 1996

WDCI, Schreiber Form Alliance (A)

A strategic alliance has been formed between Western

Dairymen Cooperative, Inc. (WDCI), Thornton, CO,

and Schreiber Foods, Inc. (SFI) of Green Bay, WI.

WDCI is discontinuing a cheese marketing joint ventuna-Dairi-West Marketing-with Darigold of Seattle.

Dairi-West, a $200 million business that lost $3.6 million in the first nine months of fiscal 1996, was formed

in 1992 by the two dairy marketing cooperatives to

gain strength in the marketplace as a supplier of highquality cheese products. In the new agreement, SF1

will: assume duty for all marketing of cheese products;

purchase cheese packaging equipment and lease cutand-wrap area and offices at WDCI’s cheese plant in

Amalga, UT. WDCI will maintain ownership of its

Cache Valley cheese brand and allow SFI to lease the

name in exchange for a royalty on each pound of

brand cheese sold. WDCI becomes the third cooperative to associate with SFI. Its relationships with MidAmerica Dairymen and United Dairymen of Arizona

spanned more than 20 years.

WDCI, Fort Collins Milk Producers Unify (U)

Fort Collins (CO) Milk Producers Association, a dairy

marketing cooperative with seven members who produce 2 million pounds of milk annually, has joined

Western Dairymen Cooperative, Inc., of Thornton, CO.

Countrymark Forms New Crop, Grain Group

(RI

A new crop production and grain marketing group has

been formed at Countrymark, Inc., Indianapolis, IN,

from its former seed, plant food, crop production, and

grain marketing departments. The combination is

intended to increase the opportunities available to

member cooperatives and their farmer members.

Ocean Spray To Sell Florida Packinghouse (C)

Because much of Ocean Spray’s fruit packing activities

are spread across a network of affiliated facilities, the

Massachusetts marketing cooperative has decided to

sell its state-of-the-art grapefruit packinghouse at

Winter Beach, FL. The cooperative has owned the facility for nearly 10 years, but said it no longer fits into its

long-term strategic plans.

Eastern Co-ops (Agway, SSC) in

Feed Venture (V)

Two major East Coast farm supply cooperatives have

formed a joint feed manufacturing venture. The

13
alliance between Agway Inc., Syracuse, NY, and

Southern States Cooperative, Inc., Richmond, VA, creates Cooperative Milling, a new firm, which includes

Agway’s feed mill at Gettysburg, PA. The jointly

owned facility will be upgraded and re-engineered to

increase capacity and allow for greater production.

Each cooperative will be responsible for feed marketing, sales and distribution to its respective customers

and members.

Harvest States’ Texas Mill Ahead

of Schedule (E)

Harvest States Cooperatives of St. Paul, MN, is building a new lO,OOO-hundredweight flour mill in

Houston, TX, to serve cooperatives. The mill is being

built for Amber Milling Company, a division of

Harvest States. The Houston mill is the second of three

new hard red winter wheat mills to be built by the

firms.

Joint Mill Dedicated in Kansas (E)

Heartland Wheat Grower, LP, opened its new wheat

starch and gluten plant at Russell, KS. The plant will

process 4.25 million bushels of wheat annually The

$30 million complex is a joint project of Farmland

Industries, Inc., and five of its farmer-owned cooperatives.

Farmland in Joint Venture (V)

Farmland has entered into a joint venture with Strauss

Feeds, North Manchester, IN, to manufacture milk

replacers for feeding calves.

Pacific Coast Producers Subsidiary

Makes Purchase (E)

California Custom Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary

of Pacific Coast Producers at Lodi, a California fruit

and vegetable marketing cooperative, has purchased

the interest owned by Ardomona Foods Limited of

Australia in a joint partnership called Snack Pack

Partners. It was formed to market a fruit cup in the

U.S. and Canada.

Gold Kist Expands Aquaculture Center (E)

Gold Kist Inc., of Atlanta, GA, has purchased an additional 320 acres of land to expand an aquaculture

research center near Inverness, MS. Gold Kist conducts

selective catfish breeding programs aimed at producing improved strains of brood fish.

Gold Kist Purchases Cotton Company (E)

Gold Kist Inc., Atlanta, GA, has purchased the assets

of the Bishop Cotton & Ginning Co., in South Carolina.

It will be blended into Gold Kist’s cotton division.

Farmland, Michigan Livestock in Pact (A)

A marketing agreement has been signed between

Michigan Livestock Exchange (MLE), East Lansing,

MI, and Farmland Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO,

allowing Farmland to distribute livestock care products through MLE’s buying station.

TFC Buys River Terminal for Fertilizer (E)

A strategic Missouri River terminal at Caruthersville,

MO, which can store 5,000 tons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer has been purchased by Tennessee Farmers

Cooperative to strengthen supplies for its member

cooperatives in the western part of the State.

March/April 1996

Farmland Venture Plans Trinidad

Ammonia Plant (V)

Farmland MissChem Ltd., a joint venture between

Farmland Industries, Inc., and Mississippi Chemical

Corporation, is building an ammonia plant in Trinidad

and Tobago.

CF Plans Nitrogen Units at Donaldsville (E)

The addition of two new nitrogen product units has

been approved by the board of directors of CF

Industries, Inc., for its plant at Donaldsville, LA. The

$305 million reconfiguration investment will finance

new urea and nitrogen solution &JAN) production

units. The improvements will increase the plant food

manufacturing cooperative’s ability to upgrade anhydrous ammonia currently produced at the complex

into granular urea and UAN, nitrogen products for

which CF’s regional cooperative owners have an

increasing need. The additional product should alleviate some supply concerns facing Midwest farmers.

LOL Forms Partnership in Taiwan (V)

Land O’Lakes, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, has formed a

joint venture with a Taiwanese company to produce

and market livestock feeds in Southeast Asia. The new

company, Land O’Lakes/Animal Nutrition Specialties

Company, Ltd., will operate a recently completed feed

mill created as part of the venture.

14
Livestock Breeding Cooperatives (A t/antic

Breeders, Eastern Al, LABC) Merge (11)

Members of Atlantic Breeders Cooperative of

Lancaster, PA, Eastern A.I. Cooperative, Ithaca, NY,

and Louisiana Animal Breeders Cooperative, Baton

Rouge, LA, overwhelmingly approved merger plans to

form Genex Cooperative. The proposal also made

Genex a subsidiary of Cooperative Resources

International, an AI holding cooperative based at

Shawano, WI. The three cooperatives had been working together since 1986 in a partnership called

Federated Genetics.

AGP, Protinal in Joint Venture (V)

AG Processing Inc., Omaha, NE, has formed a joint

venture with Protinal, Venezuela’s largest feed manufacturer and leading poultry processor.

Farmers Food Expands Frozen Line (V)

Farmers Choice Cooperative, Leeds, ND, has formed a

new business, Farmers Choice Frozen Foods, L.L.C., to

produce frozen pasta at a leased facility in

Minneapolis, MN. The new firm will begin packaging

other frozen grain-based foods as a copacker when a

new plant is built. The new venture is backed by more

than 400 investors from 14 States who have pledged

$3.5 million to $4 million in equity. The company’s

flour will be milled by the North Dakota State Mill and

Elevator at Grand Forks and Dakota Growers Pasta

Company, a sister cooperative at Carrington, ND.

Tri Valley To Consolidate Operations (C)

Tri Valley Growers, a fruit and vegetable processing

cooperative based in San Francisco, CA, is consolidating its S & W Fine Foods, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary in San Ramon, CA, into the parent cooperative.

The move is expected to eliminate duplication of internal services.

Naturipe Acquires Florida Berries (U)

Greater access in a more timely fashion to markets in

the East and Southwest will be achieved through an

agreement between Naturipe Berry Growers of

Watsonville, CA, and Ag Mark Produce, Inc., of Plant

City, FL. Under the venture, berries grown in Florida

will be marketed under the Naturipe label. The Florida

source will allow Naturipe, a berry marketing cooperative, to serve the eastern markets at a lower cost during a time when California supplies are limited.

January/February 1996

Agway Sells H.l? Hood (C)

Agway Inc., Syracuse, NY, has sold HP Hood Inc., its

Boston-based dairy processing subsidiary, to the

Catamount Co., of Chelsea, MA.

Columbia River Sugar in Pact with Holly (V)

A partnership has been formed by Columbia River

Sugar Co., of Moses Lake, WA, a grower-owned sugarbeet cooperative, and Holly Sugar Corp., a subsidiary

of Imperial Holly Corp., Sugar Land, TX. The partnership-pacific Northwest Sugar Co., LI?, in which

Columbia River will be a general partner-will construct and operate a sugarbeet processing facility at

Moses Lake.

December 1995

Farmland Adds Grain Export Outlet (E)

With an eye toward gaining more efficiencies in grain

exporting, Farmland Industries Inc., Kansas City, MO,

has signed an agreement with Alabama State Docks to

use a facility in Mobile to transfer grain from rail to

ships bound for international ports.

Co-op Plans Cottonseed Processing Plant (E)

Plains Cottonseed Oil Mill has announced plans to

build a cottonseed processing plant that will include

production of bottle cooking/salad oil. The plant will

be located near Lubbock, TX, where the cooperative is

headquartered and maintains a large crushing plant.

Cabot Offers Sun-dried Tomato

Basil Cheddar (E)

The Cabot (Vermont) division of Agri-Mark, Inc.,

Lawrence, MA, has introduced a sun-dried tomato

basic cheddar cheese for use as a snack or with entrees

such as lasagna or pizza. Cabot researchers developed

the product.

Mid-Am Sells Flav-O-Rich (C)

In an effort to consolidate operations and return more

profits to members, Mid-America Dairymen, Inc.,

Springfield, MO, has exited the fluid milk bottling

business by selling its Flav-O-Rich, Inc., subsidiary to

Land-O-Sun Dairies, Inc., Johnson City, TN. Mid-Am

acquired Flav-O-Rich in the merger with Dairymen,

Inc.

15
Nebraska Ethanol Plant Opens (V)

An ethanol production plant opened in Aurora, NE,

represents a joint venture of Farmland Industries, Inc.,

The Nebraska Energy Cooperative, and Williams

Energy Ventures.

November 1995

LOL, AGP Shelve Merger Plan (U)

The proposed merger between Land 0’ Lakes,

Minneapolis, MN, and AG Processing Inc., (AGP),

Omaha, NE, has been called off. The cooperatives earlier announced plans to merge their feed operations

immediately and to follow that with moves toward full

unification. However, concern over the complexity of

the undertaking prompted the AGP board to vote

unanimously in early October not to proceed with the

merger. The current decision does not rule out the possibility of some type of merger in the future, both

cooperatives indicated.

Golden Gem Expands Juice Plant (E)

Golden Gem Growers, Umatilla, FL, a citrus processing and marketing cooperative, is constructing a $15.6

million state-of-the-art retail juice packaging plant in

Umatilla.

Pear Co-op Sells Storage Facility (C)

Mt. Konocti Growers, Inc., Kelseyville, CA, has sold its

Reedley, CA, cold-storage facility to Gerawan Farming.

The sale was attributed to the need for more equity

from sources other than members.

October 1995

Foremost Farms To Buy Morning Glory (U)

Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo, WI, has announced

plans to acquire the Morning Glory Farms Region of

Associated Milk Producers, Inc., (AMPI), Shawano,

WI-one of three regions that comprise San Antoniobased AMPI.

LOL, Ag Processing Inc. To Merge (U)

Land O’Lakes Inc., Minneapolis, MN, and Ag

Processing Inc., Omaha, NE, have announced plans to

work toward full unification. The two cooperatives

proposed to merge their feed operations as soon as

possible under regulations. The two cooperatives have

about 240 local co-op members in common, 150 of

them in Iowa.

September 1995

Washington Apple Co-ops Merge (U)

Washington’s largest grower-owned apple cooperative

was formed Sept. 1 when two apple cooperativesBlue Chelan Inc., and Trout, Inc.-merged. The new

association, to be known as Trout-Blue Chelan, Inc.

represents about 300 growers and will pack 5 million

boxes of fruit worth $70 million annually.

SF Services, Farmland Launch

Joint Ventures (V)

Farmland Industries, Kansas City, MO, and SF

Services, Inc., (SF), North Little Rock, AR, have signed

a series of joint venture agreements involving their

feed, fertilizer, and petroleum businesses. One agreement combines Farmland’s feed mills at Afton, OK,

and Van Buren, AR, with the SF feed mill at

Fayettville, AR, into a single , limited liability company called Southern Farmland. Farmland will also supply crop nutrients to SF, and the two co-ops will form a

limited liability company to pursue new fertilizer marketing opportunities. Farmland and SF have also

expanded an existing petroleum-supply agreement

under which Farmland will continue to supply SF with

lubricants and begin supplying refined fuel products.

PLA Purchases Creston Livestock (U)

Producers Livestock Association, Columbus, OH, has

purchased Creston (OH) Livestock Sales, Inc., another

livestock cooperative.

Joint Venture (Farmers Co-op, Farmland)

To Operate Grain Terminal (V)

Farmers Co-op Grain Association of Wellington, KS,

the Danville Co-op Association, Danville, KS, and the

grain division of Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas

City, MO, have formed a joint venture to lease and

operate the Wolcott and Lincoln Inc.., grain terminal in

Wellington.

GROWMARK Builds New Mill (E)

GROWMARK, Inc., of Bloomington, IL, has begun

construction on a new $4 million feed mill in

Nashville, IL, to produce 125,000 tons of feed annually.

August 1995

AMPI, Morning Glory, Foremost Farms

Study Merger (U)

A feasibility study is being conducted to evaluate the

benefits of integrating the members and operations of

16
AMPI’s Morning Glory Farms Region into Foremost

Farms USA. Both cooperatives have facilities and

members concentrated in Wisconsin and northern

Illinois. Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo, WI, was created last year by the consolidation of Wisconsin Dairies

Cooperative and Golden Guernsey Dairy Cooperative.

TFC Buys River Terminal (E)

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC), Laverne, TN,

has purchased the Fort Loudon Terminal at Lenoir

City, TN, from Bennett Spratlin. Ag Distributors Inc., a

TFC subsidiary, will operate the terminal. The 1Pacre

facility provides both river and rail access, with barge

unloading capability that will help TFC serve fertilizer

customers in eastern Tennessee.

AI Co-ops (21st Century, Noba, Atlantic

Breeders, Eastern Al, LABC)

To Market Jointly (A)

Five artificial insemination (AI) cooperatives have

signed a supply agreement to jointly market bull

semen throughout the U.S. Participants are: 21st

Century Genetics, Shawano, WI; Noba, Inc., Tiffin, OH;

Atlantic Breeders Cooperative, Lancaster, PA; Eastern

AI Cooperative, Ithaca, NY; and Louisiana Animal

Breeders Cooperative, Baton Rouge, LA.

July 1995

California Dairy Co-ops (California Milk,

Dairymen’s Coop Creamery, Danish Creamery)

Launch Joint Venture (V)

Three dairy cooperatives-California Milk Producers,

Dairyman’s Cooperative Creamery Association and

Danish Creamery Association-have created

DairyAmerica Inc., a common agency, to market powdered milk.

June 1995

New Joint Venture for Blueberry Co-op (V)

Black Blueberries Inc., a North Carolina grower cooperative, has formed a joint venture with MBG (formerly the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association), a

blueberry marketing cooperative based in Grand

Junction, MI. The joint venture is a 15,000-square-foot

blueberry packing facility in Bladen County, NC. Black

Blueberries is part owner, while MBG will manage

day-to-day shipping operations at the facility, but will

not share in its ownership.

Mid-Am To Close Kentucky Plant (C)

Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO, plans

to close an Italian cheese plant at Glasgow, KY, as part

of the cooperative’s overall restructuring effort to follow changes occurring in milk production and to

improve its operational efficiency.

Riceland Buys Elevators (E)

Riceland Foods, Inc., Stuttgart, AR, has purchased the

former B&G Services Grain Elevator in Alligator, MS,

and the former Holden-Conner Elevator in Grubbs,

AR.

May 1995

MMI and Eastern Approve Merger (U)

The Nation’s third largest dairy cooperative has been

created by delegates voting to merge Eastern Milk

Producers Cooperative, Syracuse, NY, and Milk

Marketing, Inc. (MMI), Strongsville, OH, effective

April 1. The new cooperative will retain the MM1

name and incorporate Eastern’s cow logo into the new

logo. The new cooperative has 9,000 farm family members in an area stretching from Indiana to Vermont. It

will process 7 billion pounds of milk worth $1 billion,

annually. More than 95 percent of the members of each

cooperative who voted approved the merger.

Dairylea Acquires Empire Livestock (U)

Dairylea Cooperative Inc., Syracuse, NY, has assumed

ownership and control of the assets of Empire

Livestock Marketing Cooperative, Ithaca, NY. Dairylea

plans to operate Empire as a fully autonomous subsidiary. Dairylea has been providing administrative

services for Empire since the early 1990s. Empire is the

largest livestock marketing organization in the

Northeast, operating nine markets across New York

State.

Sun-Diamond To Buy Dole Fruit Unit (E)

Sun-Diamond Growers, Pleasanton, CA, and two of its

member cooperatives-Sun-Maid Raisins and

Sunsweet Prunes-have signed a letter of intent to

purchase Dole Food’s California-based dried fruit

business. The transaction does not include Dole’s

almond and pistachio business or its European-based

businesses. Dole will license its brand name to SunDiamond for use on dates, raisins, and prunes and will

purchase the Dromedary brand name for use with

dates. Sun-Diamond will operate Dole’s raisin plant in

Kerman, CA, and date plant in Thermal, CA.

17
Blue Diamond Growers To Spend $30

million on Plant (R)

After several years of study, Blue Diamond Growers

has elected to keep its headquarters and primary

almond processing facility at its present site in

Sacramento. The cooperative will invest $30 million on

plant improvements and new technology.

Harvest States in New Joint Venture (V)

Harvest States Cooperatives, St. Paul, MN, has joined

with the California-based Wilsey Foods Inc. in a joint

venture that will acquire and operate some facilities of

Portion Pat Inc. (PPI), an affiliate of H.J. Heinz Co.

that produces mayonnaise, dressings, sauces, syrup,

and food base. The new venture will be known as

Ventura Foods, and will involve Harvest States’

Holsum Foods Division, Waukesha, WI. Mitsui & Co.,

a Japanese firm, owns Wilsey. The acquisition involves

a PPI plant in Chambersburg, PA, that employs 500.

Gold Kist To Invest $10 Million

in Cotton Plant (E)

The new cotton division of Atlanta’s Gold Kist Inc., is

investing $10 million in cotton facilities, including a

new cotton gin at Jimps, GA. The gin should be operating by the start of the 1995 cotton harvest. Cotton production in the surrounding counties increased 20 percent in 1994 and is expected to climb 31 percent this

year. Gold Kist has chosen the site at Moultrie, GA, for

a new, lOO,OOO-bale cotton warehouse complex. The

warehouse will create 20 full-time jobs.

New Name for Tri-State (R)

Tri-State Breeders, an artificial insemination cooperative based in Baraboo, WI, has changed its name to

Accelerated Genetics. The cooperative has been using

both names for the past 4-years, but now will use

“Accelerated Genetics” exclusively. This reflects the

fact that the cooperative has expanded its marketing

base. In addition to AI services, it also markets cattle,

embryos, and does genetic marker research.

Alto, Swiss Valley Pursuing Joint Venture (V)

Alto Dairy, Waupun, WI, and Swiss Valley Farms,

Davenport, IA, have agreed to study and implement

joint venture programs for re-engineering plants and

products. They also plan to jointly pursue future product development. In addition, the two cooperatives

will establish a common bond for legislative input on

local, State and national diary issues. Each cooperative

will continue to maintain separate business operations.

Plains Cotton To Expand Denim Plant (E)

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA),

Lubbock, TX, plans to spend $15.6 million to expand

denim production by 20 percent in its Littlefield, TX,

plant. The expansion is the result of continued strong

market demand for denim, particularly from Levi

Strauss & Co., the mill’s primary customer.

PCCA and Gold Kist Reach Agreement (A)

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association of Lubbock, TX,

has agreed with Gold Kist Inc., Atlanta, GA, to offer

TELECOT electronic cotton marketing service to Gold

Kist members in the Southeast. PCCA members in

Texas and Oklahoma have been using the electronic

marketing system for 20 years. Under the new agreement, Gold Kist will be a customer of Telmark, Inc., a

wholly owned subsidiary of PCAA created in 1985 to

offer TELECOT service to non-PCAA members.

April 1995

Eastern, MMI Sign Merger Agreement (U)

Eastern Milk Producers, Syracuse, NY, and Milk

Marketing Inc., Strongsville, OH, have agreed to consolidate, subject to approval by delegates in late

March. If approved, the new cooperative will become

the third largest in the nation.

Sun Diamond To Purchase Pecan Plant (E)

Sun-Diamond Growers, Pleasanton, CA, plans to pay

$2.2 million for a bankrupt pecan processing facility in

Las Cruces, NM. The plant was formerly operated by

SNA Nut. Co.

March 1995

AMPI South Buys Coleman Dairy (E)

The Southern Region of Associated Milk Producers,

Inc., Arlington, TX, has purchased Coleman Dairy of

Little Rock, AR.

AMPI Merges Divisions (R)

AMP1 has merged its Southern Region’s Kansas and

Oklahoma divisions to form the new Central Plains

Division. This marks the third time divisions have

merged with the Southern Region to reduce costs and

increase efficiencies.

SMS Merges With Mid-Am (U)

Southern Milk Sales (SMS), Montgomery, AL, merged

with Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO.

Mid-Am has managed SMS operations on a contract

18
basis for the past 3 years. Coordination of marketing

programs was the goal when the management contract

was established and a full merger could follow.

Al Co-ops (Federated Genetics, 21st Century

Noba) To Market Jointly (A)

Three artificial insemination cooperatives-Federated

Genetics, 21st Century, and Noba-have formed a joint

marketing plan in which each will represent the

other’s sire lineups in their respective territories. The

marketing plan is intended to help the cooperatives

better meet member needs and improve their competitive positions without requiring additional costs for

facilities or sires.

De/ Monte/PCP Alliance Terminates (C)

Under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission

(FTC), Del Monte Corp. and Pacific Coast Producers

(PCP), a Lodi, California-based canned fruit and tomato processing cooperative, have terminated their 2 -

year-old alliance. The ETC said their production and

supply arrangements violated Federal antitrust laws

by eliminating PCP as a competitor of Del Monte.

February 1995

MM/, Eastern in Merger Talks (U)

Milk Marketing Inc. (MMI), Strongsville, OH, and

Eastern Milk Producers Cooperative Association Inc.,

Syracuse, NY, have agreed to discuss merging their

cooperatives.

Cob/e Dairy To Merge With Mid-America (U)

Members of Coble Dairy, Lexington, NC, have voted

unanimously to merge with Mid-America Dairymen,

Inc., Springfield, MO. The recent merger of Mid-Am

and Dairymen Inc. and their subsequent aggressive

marketing program and strong position in Class I fluid

milk market in the Southeast provided the incentive to

merge. It provides Coble with the opportunity to preserve members’ equity and market milk profitably in

the future.

Canadian, U.S. Co-ops (UCO, GROWMARK)

Join Forces (U)

GROWMARK, Inc., Bloomington, IL, has purchased

the assets of United Co-operatives of Ontario-the

largest farm supply and marketing cooperative in

Ontario-for $34 million. Despite geographic differences, the agriculture of Ontario and of the Midwest

are compatible because they have strong roots in cooperation among farmers.

Minn-Dak Sugar Beet Plant To Expand (E)

Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, Whapeton, ND, is

planning a $62 million expansion of its sugar processing plant in Whapeton,. About 20 percent of the cost

will be financed through grower equity by sale of new

stock and the rest through a long-term loan.

Farmland, Wilbur-Ellis in Joint Venture (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO., and

Wilbur-Ellis Co., San Francisco, CA, have signed a letter of intent to create a joint venture-WILFARM,

LLC-which would be one of the largest wholesale

distributors of crop protection products in the US.

Farmland Forms Limited Partnership (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., and five of its member cooperatives have formed a limited partnershipHeartland Wheat Growers PP.-which is constructing

a $30 million wheat gluten and starch plant at Russell,

KS.

AGP To Build Ethanol Plant (E)

Ag Processing Inc., Omaha, NE, plans to build a 30-

million-gallon ethanol plant in Hastings, NE.

Machinery and equipment for the facility will be salvaged from an idle plant in Jasper, TN. The new plant,

scheduled to begin operation in December 1995, will

process corn and milo.

January 1995

CoBank, Springfield Banks To Consolidate (U)

Stockholders of CoBank, the Farm Credit Bank of

Springfield (MA), and the Springfield Bank for

Cooperatives have overwhelmingly approved consolidation of the three banks to form CoBank, ACB

(Agricultural Credit Bank). Headquarters for the new

bank will be in Denver, CO.

TVG Exploring Potential Partnerships (U)

Tri Valley Growers, a San Francisco-based fruit and

vegetable processing and marketing cooperative, is

exploring possible partnerships or mergers to help

strengthen its position in the face of continued consolidation of the food industry.

Iowa Ethanol Co-op To Build Plant (V)

Plans were unveiled in October for a 30-million-gallon

ethanol plant in Carroll or Crawford counties, IA, by

Iowa Ethanol Co-op (IEC). Plans call for IEC and

Western Ethanol Corporation to cooperate to supply

and operate the ethanol plant. IEC members would

19
contract to supply at least 50 percent of the needed

corn and would own 51 percent of the common stock

of the plant operating corporation-Western Ethanol

Corporation. The remaining 49 percent of common

stock and all preferred stock will be held on a nonlocal, regional basis.

Holding Co. To Oversee AGP, ADM

Feed Operations (V)

Ag Processing Inc. Omaha, NE, and Archer Daniel

Midland Co., Decatur, IL, have agreed in principle to

combine their feed operations into a holding company

to oversee the assets of the operations.The feed divisions will continue to operate separately under their

established names and management will remain intact.

This “50-50” partnership will create the third largest

feed company in North America and operational savings, particularly in research and development.

GROWMARK Eyes Canadian Co-op (LJ)

GROWMARK, Inc., Bloomington, IL, has signed a letter of intent to purchase the assets of United

Cooperative (UCO) of Ontario, the Canadian

province’s largest farm supply cooperative. The 40-

member cooperatives that own UC0 stock will join

GROWMARK’s federated system in a cooperative relationship.

Riceland, ADM Form Processing

Partnership (V)

Riceland Foods, Inc., Stuttgart, AR, and ADM Milling

Co., Decatur, IL, have formed a partnership to process

and market rice using ADM’s rice storage and processing facilities at Weiner, Otwell, and Knobel, AR, and

Crowley, LA. Riceland will manage the partnership’s

daily operations. General management will be under

the direction of a management committee from the two

partners.

December 1994

Pro-Fat Completes Acquisition

of Curtice Burns (U)

Pro-Fat Cooperative, Inc., an agricultural marketing

cooperative with 707 members, has completed its

acquisition of Curtice Burns Food, Inc., which will

become a wholly owned subsidiary of Pro-Fat. Both

companies are based in Rochester, NY. Both will continue to operate under two separate boards.

Harvest States To Build New Flour Mill (E)

Amber Milling Co., a subsidiary of Harvest States

Cooperatives, St. Paul, MN, plans to build a flour mill

at Mount Pocono in eastern Pennsylvania. Amber

Milling is constructing a similar flour mill in Kenosha,

WI.

November 1994

Mid-Am, DI Merger Receives

Justice Approval (U)

The merger of Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., of

Springfield, MO, and Dairymen Inc., of Louisville, KY,

has been approved by the U.S. Justice Department,

clearing the way for Mid-Am and DI to file required

merger certification papers with the states of Kansas

and Kentucky, respectively, where the cooperatives are

chartered. With more than 92 percent of Mid-Am’s 360

delegates voting, 93.4 percent favored the merger. The

new cooperative will continue to use the Mid-Am

name.

Curtice Burns To Merge with Pro-Fat (U)

Curtice Burns Foods, Inc., has agreed to merge with

Pro-Fat Cooperative, both of Rochester, NY. The two

are partners in a joint venture in which Pro-Fat is the

primary supplier of fruits and vegetables processed by

Curtice Burns.

Agway Expands Churchville Mill (E)

Agway Inc., has agreed to expand the capacity of its

Churchville, NY, flour mill another 50 percent to satisfy growing demands from the baking industry for high

quality cake and pastry flour.

Ag Processing, ADM Form Feed Company (V)

Ag Processing Inc. (AGP), Omaha, NE, and Archer

Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Decatur, IL, have agreed

to combine their feed operations in a holding company*

Ohio Co-ops Form SunMark Ltd. (V)

Sunrise Cooperative, Inc., Norwalk, Ohio, and

Agrimark Farmers Cooperative, Inc., Ashland, OH,

have formed a limited liability corporation called

SunMark, Ltd., at Mansfield, OH. SunMark will operate a l.l-million-bushel grain terminal formerly operated by Countrymark Cooperative.

20
Outlook Prompts Illinois Co-ops (Bond County

Fayette) To Merge (U)

The boards of two cooperatives looked at where they

should be in another 5 years and decided not to wait

until conditions forced action. As a result, Bond

County Service Company and Fayette Service

Company in southern Illinois united to become South

Central FS, Inc., at Vandalia, IL.

October 1994

Sea/d-Sweet To Market Sweet Potatoes (V)

Seald-Sweet Growers, a Florida citrus processing and

marketing cooperative at Vero Beach, has announced a

joint venture with two Louisiana sweet potato growers/shippers to market their products.

Dakota Co-op To Make Frozen Dough (E)

Drayton (ND) Grain Processors Cooperative, has

announced plans for a two-phase, $17-million food

processing project. The first phase involves a joint venture to produce frozen baker dough and specialty

doughs under the “Drayton Foods” brand. The second

phase calls for construction of a food manufacturing

plant to produce other types of food products. The

cooperative was incorporated last March to mill

durum wheat into Semolina. But overcapacity in

durum milling prompted the cooperative to instead

produce frozen and specialty doughs.

Pro-Fat Bids for Curtice Burns (U)

Pro-Fat Cooperative, Inc., Rochester, NY, has offered

$19 a share, or $164 million, to buy Curtice Burns

Foods, also of Rochester. The two are partners in a

joint venture in which Pro-Fat is the primary supplier

of fruits and vegetables processed by Curtice Burns.

Minn-Dak, Universal To Produce Yeast (V)

Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, Whapeton, ND, and

Universal Foods Corp., Milwaukee, WI, have agreed to

a joint venture under which they will each own and

operate Minn-Dak Yeast Co.

MM/ Purchases Cheese Plant (E)

Milk Marketing, Inc, Strongsville, OH, has completed

the purchase of Savoldi Cheese Co., West Middlesex,

PA. The plant produces shredded cheese products for

the food service industry. It will be operated under the

umbrella of MMI’s Farmers Cheese subsidiary, one of

the nation’s largest single-source makers of Italian

cheeses.

AGP Creates New Subsidiary (E)

Ag Processing, Inc., (AGP), Omaha, NE, is purchasing

a 20-percent minority interest from Archer Daniels

Midland of Decatur, IL, in AGP, LP, Grain

Merchandising. A new wholly-owned subsidiary

called AGP Grain Ltd., will have facilities in Indiana,

Ohio, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

New Addition for Prairie Farms (E)

Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., Carlinville, IL, purchased

both Braun Dairy, Willow Spring, IL, and the milk bottling operations at Forrest, IL.. Braun had been a

Chicago distributor for Prairie Farms.

Rice Bran Oil Plant Operating (V)

A new rice bran oil plant adjacent to Riceland Foods’

soybean processing plant in Stuttgart, AR, came on

line in May. The plant is part of the RITO Partnership,

which Riceland formed with two Japanese companies,

Itochu and Tokyo Oil Mills. The partnership is producing and marketing rice bran oil, which will be sold as a

livestock ingredient.

September 1994

Agri-Mark Continues To Acquire

Cheese Plants (E)

Agri-Mark, Inc., a dairy marketing cooperative,

Lawrence, MA, has purchased a former Kraft cheese

plant in Middlebury, VT. The cooperative has now

purchased three Vermont cheese plants in the last few

years, representing a total investment of $50 million.

Dairylea Opens Southern Division Office (E)

Dairylea Cooperative, Syracuse, NY, has opened a

Southern Division office in Towanda, PA, to better

serve its growing milk marketing and insurance businesses in Pennsylvania. The office will include

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the southern New York

membership areas.

Welch’s Buys BAMA Foods (E)

To increase the company’s presence in key marketing

areas and enhance its position in the “spreads” product arena, Welch’s, of Westfield, NY, has purchased

BAMA Foods, a unit of Borden, Inc., based in

Birmingham, AL. The company will function as a

wholly owned subsidiary of Welch’s under the

“BAMA Foods, Inc.” name.

21
Mississippi Chemical To Convert (R)

Nearly 100 percent of the shareholders of Mississippi

Chemical Corp., Yazoo City, MS, have voted to convert

the company from a cooperative to a for-profit corporation. The plan calls for Mississippi Chemical to be

merged into a new, wholly owned subsidiary.

Outstanding shares of stock will be converted into

cash or shares of the new company. The company has

also divested its majority interest in Newsprint South

Inc., its newsprint manufacturing subsidiary in

Grenada, MS.

Blue Anchor Moves Headquarters (R)

Blue Anchor, Inc., a fresh fruit marketing cooperative,

recently moved its sales office and headquarters from

Sacramento to Dinuba, CA. Due to urban encroachment, the major fruit-producing region has moved to

the San Joaquin Valley, further south than the traditional region of the Sierra foothills above Sacramento.

AgraTech Acquires Midwest Seed

Company (E)

AgraTech Seeds Inc., a subsidiary of Gold Kist Inc., of

Atlanta, GA, has increased its Midwest production and

marketing capacity with the acquisition of Ainsworth

Seed Company in Mason City, IL. The purchase

included the firm’s corn breeding program and its

seed production facilities, marketing rights to the

Ainsworth brand name, and an opportunity to sell the

firm’s established dealer and customer network.

A MPI To Close Madison Plant (C)

The barrel cheddar cheese plant, cheese store and milk

transfer station in Madison, WI, owned by the

Morning Glory Farms Region of Associated Milk

Producers, Inc., is closing. In recent years, it had been a

“balancing” plant for the fluid market, but that role is

no longer economically feasible because of declining

milk volume in the area.

AGP Unit Buys Canadian Firm (E)

The board of Ag Processing, Inc., Omaha, NE, has

authorized purchase by Masterfeeds, a division of

AGP, LP, of the Shur-Gain feed business assets in

Alberta, Canada. The purchase includes feed manufacturing plants at Calgary, Didsbury, Edmonton,

Lethbridge, and Red Deer.

Harvest States Building Kenosha Mill (E)

In a major expansion and diversification of its milling

activities, Harvest States Cooperatives, of St. Paul,

MN, has announced that its Amber Milling Company

subsidiary has begun construction of a flour mill at

Kenosha, WI. The mill will serve bakery and pasta

manufacturing customers in the Chicago metropolitan

area and other parts of the Upper Midwest.

Farmland To Expand Refinery (E)

The board of directors of Farmland Industries, Kansas

City, MO, has ratified a significant expansion for petroleum refining operations in Coffeyville, KS. The move

is the next step in Farmland’s long-term goal of reinvesting in and extending the capacity of the

Coffeyville operation.

August 1994

Mid-America and Dairymen, Inc.,

Pursue Merger (U)

Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO, and

Dairymen, Inc. (DI), Louisville, KY, have signed a nonbinding letter of understanding which expresses their

intent to merge the two cooperatives. The merger

would combine Mid-Am’s 14,000 members with DI’s

3,000 members in an organization that would cover

most of the United States, with the exception of the

Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Combining the organizations is expected to increase

operational and marketing efficiency of both cooperatives. Members of the two cooperatives must approve

the merger.

Producers Livestock Buys Middendorf (E)

Producers Livestock Association @‘LA), of Columbus,

OH, has purchased Middendorf Stockyard Company,

Inc., based in western Ohio. The purchase is expected

to combine the strengths of both companies and provide expanded services to customers. Middendorf

Stockyard, founded in 1914, marketed more than

215,000 hogs in 1993 and had gross sales of almost $24

million. PLA serves over 30,000 livestock producers

with livestock marketing and financing facilities in

Ohio and Indiana. It marketed more than 1.5 million

head of livestock in 1993 and had sales exceeding $404

million. Financing activities through Producers Live

Stock Credit Association, its wholly owned subsidiary,

generated another $65 million. The cooperative did not

purchase Middendorf Trucking Co., a subsidiary of the

livestock firm.

SD Wheat Growers Builds New Warehouse (E)

South Dakota Wheat Growers Association at Aberdeen

has built a 40,000-square-foot warehouse, one of the

largest for storing chemicals and fertilizer in the Upper

22
Midwest. The new warehouse at Bath, SD, was built to

cover existing and anticipated environmental-related

regulations. Expanded railroad siding track will

accommodate the 25 to 30 cars of dry fertilizer in addition to warehouse storage capacity. The new facility

permits the cooperative to expand its business both to

current customers and wholesale outlets within a 70-

to lOO-mile radius.

Swiss Valley To Close Cheddar Operation (C)

Swiss Valley Farms, Co., Davenport, IA, plans to close

its cheddar cheese manufacturing operation in

Hopkinton, IA. Sales of bottled milk and cultured

products have been growing and more milk was needed for those operations rather than for cheddar cheese

because bottled milk products yield more value than

cheddar cheese for the cooperative’s dairy farmerowners. The company continues to operate a large

Swiss Cheese and whey operation at Luana, IA; a milk

drying plant at Maquoketa, IA; cheese packaging at St.

Olaf, IA; and milk and cultured products at Cedar

Rapids and Dubuque, IA, and Chicago.

Farmland’s Tradigrain Eyes Global Business (E)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, and its latest grain acquisition, Tradigrain, will seek to sell grain

on almost every continent. Tradigrain, headquartered

in Geneva, Switzerland, brings a wealth of global

grain-trading expertise and contacts from more than 20

years in the business.

Southern States Forms New Unit (R)

Southern States Cooperative (SSC), Richmond, VA, has

created a new farm and home business unit, which

completes reorganization it started last year. The new

units will allow SSC to focus better on markets and

customers and places more management emphasis on

that segment of the business. SSC plans to expand and

upgrade facilities.

Fox Valley DHI Cooperative Created (U)

Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) members in

Winnebago and Outagamie counties in eastern

Wisconsin have merged, forming the Fox Valley DHI

Co-op. The merger permits the two cooperatives to

streamline the organizations in the face of declining

numbers of dairy herds in the State.

GROWMARK Buying Vigor0 Outlets (E)

Seventeen retail outlets in central and northern Illinois

are being purchased from the Vigor0 Corporation by

GROWMARK, Inc., of Bloomington, IL, and some of

its FS member cooperatives. Vigor0 is a manufacturer

of fertilizer products. The transaction was expected to

be completed once pending regulatory approval and

other legal details were completed.

July 1994

Blueberry Juice Produced From

Joint Venture (V)

Ozark Valley Products, Inc., Springdale, AR, is demonstrating how the use of local processing and marketing

can add value to a commodity. Welch Foods, Inc., had

processed Concord grapes in the area until it closed its

Arkansas plant in 1992. The closing prompted a group

of grape growers and other investors to raise about $2

million to purchase and upgrade the facility. The plant

is now marketing its own brand of all natural, premium Concord grape juice and apple juice, as well as bottling juice for two Arkansas cooperatives.

June 1994

Gulf Dairy To Merge with Mid-America

Dairymen (U)

Gulf Dairy Association, Kentwood, LA, has voted to

merge operations with Mid-America Dairymen, Inc.,

Springfield, MO. Gulf Dairy will operate as a subregion within Mid-Am’s existing Southern Division.

Also, Highland Dairy-Mid-Am’s joint venture with

Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., Carlinville, IL-has acquired

Gilt Edge Dairy, a subsidiary of the Dean Milk Co. in

Norman, OK. Prairie Farms manages Hiland while

Mid-Am supplies the raw milk.

U.S., Dutch Cooperatives Join Forces (A)

21st Century Genetics, Shawano, WI, and Holland

Genetics, The Netherlands, have approved an agreement to work together in sire procurement, embryo

exchange, and research. The agreement is believed to

be the first of its kind between U.S. and European

cooperatives.

May 1994

Three Cooperative Banks To Merge (U)

CoBank, the Farm Credit Bank of Springfield, MA, and

the Springfield Bank for Cooperatives plan to merge

pending approval by stockholders and the Farm Credit

Administration. The merger is intended to present a

significant opportunity for all the banks to improve

service to customer-owners, strengthen financial performance and achieve strategic business objectives.

23
The consolidated bank will act as a wholesale lender to

the Farm Credit Association serving the eight States in

the first Farm Credit district. The new bank will be

headquartered in CoBank’s Denver office, with an

office in Springfield to serve cooperatives and local

associations in New England, New York, and New

Jersey.

April 1994

Colorado Co-ops Join Forces (U)

Members of Consumers Co-op, Inc., and Farmers

Union Co-op Elevator, both headquartered in Wray,

CO, have voted to consolidate their operations. Eighty

percent of the members voting favored unification.

The name of the new cooperative will be Great Plains

Cooperative, Inc. Combining the two organizations

will make the new cooperative one of the largest in

Colorado.

CENEWLand O’Lakes Purchase

Vigor0 Units (E)

CENEX/Land O’Lakes Agronomy Co., has purchased

18 retail Vigor0 Industries Farmarkets in Idaho,

Minnesota, and Iowa. Both firms agreed to a longterm, wholesale product supply contract for nitrogen

and potash products. Vigor0 will supply increasing

quantities of wholesale products to Cenex/Land

O’Lakes while providing the cooperative attractive

retail growth opportunities. Vigor0 is a major manufacturer, wholesale marketer, and retailer of potash,

nitrogen-based and related products. Cenex/Land

O’Lakes Agronomy will manage seven of the facilities

purchased while member cooperatives will purchase

and manage 11.

March 1994

Harvest States Division Buys Ohio Firm (E)

The Holsum Foods Division of Harvest States

Cooperatives at St. Paul, MN, has purchased the

Miami Margarine Co., a Cincinnati-based manufacturer of margarine, cooking oils and shortenings for retail,

food service and industrial customers. Holsum is

based in Waukesha, WI.

Agri-Mark Eyes Kraft’s Middlebury Plant (E)

Agri-Mark, Inc., Lawrence, MA, has signed a letter of

intent to purchase the Kraft Foods plant in

Middlebury, VT. The plant produces Swill, Baby Swiss,

and Gouda cheeses, with the milk supplied by 225

local Agri-iMark members. The cooperative has been

supplying the plant since it began operation in 1975.

Snokist Expands Facilities (E)

Snokist Growers, a Yakima, WA, fresh and processed

fruit marketing cooperative, has embarked on a $1.9

million expansion project which will add 42,000-

square-feet of space to its pear cannery operations.

February 1994

New Facility for Empire Livestock (E)

Empire Livestock Marketing Cooperative, Syracuse,

NY, began operating a livestock facility in Owego, NY,

in January. The new facility will enable Empire to better serve the needs of livestock farmers in southern

New York and northern Pennsylvania.

Farmland Buys Grain Trading Group (E)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has purchased Tradigrain, a Geneva, Switzerland-based international grain trading group formerly owned by

British Petroleum. Tradigrain specializes in international trading of wheat and corn, with average sales of

more than $1 billion. Tradigrain will become a whollyowned subsidiary of Farmland.

Land O’Lakes Says Aloha (E)

Land O’Lakes, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, has purchased one of four Fred L. Waldron dealers in Hawaii

and Waldron’s customer list. Land O’Lakes will use

the Hawaii base to expand market share in the Western

Pacific, including Guam, Samoa, and Micronesia.

Ocean Spray Benefits From Agreement (A)

An agreement with Pepsico has helped Ocean Spray

Cranberries, Middleboro, MA, double its single-serving sales in the first year of the agreement. Ocean

Spray expects the business volume to double again in

1994. The marketing arrangement has greatly

increased Ocean Spray’s distribution level in convenience stores and vending machines.

Prairie Farms Announces Merger (U)

Allen Dairy, Fort Wayne, ID, has merged with Prairie

Farms Dairy, Inc., Carlinville, IL. Allen Dairy is a fluid

milk processing cooperative with about 100 members

and it processes about 130 million pounds of milk

annually.

24
Humbolt Creamery Building Ice

Cream Plant (E)

Humbolt Creamery Association, Fortuna, CA, is constructing a new plant capable of producing 10 million

gallons of ice cream annually in Fernbridge, CA. The

cooperative has a co-packaging and marketing agreement with Peninsula Creamery, Palo Alto, CA.

Humbolt will manufacture all Peninsula’s ice cream

products while Peninsula develops domestic and international sales. Peninsula’s current plant will close

when Humbolt’s opens.

Foods. The move is part of Western’s ongoing restructuring drive. The cooperative earlier closed plants in

Riverton and Thayne, WY.

Producers Livestock Opens New

Indiana Branch (E)

Producers Livestock Association (PLA), Columbus,

OH, has a new branch near Rushville, IN. PLA serves

more than 30,000 livestock producers at 18 facilities in

Ohio and Indiana.

October 1993

January 1994

Curtice Burns Sells Divisions (C)

Curtice Burns Foods, Inc., a Rochester, NY, processor

and marketer of 22 regionally branded, private label

and food service products, has sold certain assets of

Hiland Potato Chip Co.,in Des Moines, IA, to Weaver

Potato Chip Co., Lincoln, NE. Curtice Burns also sold

the oat milling portion of its National Oats division in

Cedar Rapids, IA, to the Ralston Purina Co., St. Louis,

MO. The two sales represent the first part of a restructuring program announced last August.

North Central FS Acquires Iowa Facility (U)

North Central FS, Inc., has purchased the assets of

Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co., Chapin, IA. The

facility has a grain volume of 1.4 million bushels and

has annual merchandise and service sales of more than

$1 .l million.

AGRI Industries, Heartland in Joint Venture (V)

AGRI Industries, West Des Moines, IA, and Heartland

Co-op, Dallas Center, IA, have formed a new joint venture called Industrial and Transportation Equipment

Co., LC (ITEC). ITEC will own and operate a business

formerly known as Avon Grain Co., Railroad Repair

Division, Carlisle, IA. Creation of the joint venture

should allow for profitable growth of the business and

strengthen its service to its member cooperatives and

other customers.

Cob/e Dairy Sells Branches (C)

Coble Dairy Products Dairy Cooperative, Inc.,

Lexington, NC, has sold its two branches in Columbia,

SC, and Orangeburg, SC, to Coburg Dairy, Inc.

Western Dairymen Sells Idaho Plant (C)

Western Dairymen Cooperative, Inc., Thornton, CO,

has sold its cheese manufacturing plant in Twin Falls,

ID, to Avonmore West, a subsidiary of Avonmore

Ag Processing Acquires Texas Refinery (E)

Ag Processing, Inc., Omaha, NE, has acquired a Kraft

Food ingredients oil refinery in Sherman, TX. The fullline refining facility can perform crude refining,

bleaching, hydrogenation and deodorization of soybean, cottonseed, and corn oils, along with a small volume of meat fat.

Dairy Co-ops (Western Dairymen, Darigold)

to Market Jointly (V)

Western Dairymen Cooperative, Inc., of Thornton, CO,

and Darigold, Inc., of Seattle, WA, have agreed to

form a new marketing agency in common called Dairy

West Marketing (DWM), Inc., headquartered in Salt

Lake City, UT. DWM will market branded and privatelabel cheese products currently produced by its two

parent cooperatives, including Cache Valley and

Darigold brands.

Mid-Am Breaks Ground in New Mexico (E)

Mid-America Dairymen, Springfield, MO, has broken

ground on a new milk processing plant in Portales,

NM, to capitalize on rapid production growth in the

southwestern U.S.

GROWMARK, Hubbard Milling in

Joint Venture (V)

Illinois Feed Manufacturing Co., has been formed as a

joint venture of GROWMARK, Inc., Bloomington, IL,

and Hubbard Milling Co., Mankato, MN. The new

company will manufacture both Hubbard and GROWMARK feeds at the cooperative’s mill in Springfield,

IL. Hubbard will close its Illinois plant. The joint venture is expected to enable the cooperative to increase

production efficiencies and enhance customer service

for Hubbard dealers and reduce per-ton manufacturing costs at the mill. Sales and marketing operations

for the two companies will remain separate.

25
Farmland Breaks Ground for Wheat Facility (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, broke

ground in Russell, KS, for its new, Heartland Wheat

Growers plant. The $26.4 million plant will process 4.2

million bushels of wheat annually. The plant is a joint

venture of Farmland and a group of Kansas cooperatives-Agco Inc., County Farmers Co-op Union,

Midland Marketing, Wallace County Co-op, and

Minneola Co-op.

Dairylea Relocates Lab (R)

Dairylea Cooperative, Syracuse, NY, has relocated its

member milk testing laboratory to a larger, more modern facility in Syracuse from which to better serve its

2,600 farmer-members in the Northeast.

Wenoka Announces Merger (U)

Wenoka Sales, the marketing division of the

Wenatchee Okanogan Cooperative Federation, has

merged into a new company, Majestic Valley Produce,

also headquartered in Wenatchee, WA. Majestic will

market for Wenatchee’s six warehouses plus three

other packing sheds. Six of the nine members of

Majestic Valley Produce are cooperatives.

September 1993

CoBank Opens Mexico Office (E)

CoBank opened its first office outside the United States

Aug. 17 when it dedicated its new office in Mexico

City with an eye toward helping cooperatives to better

compete in global markets.

Co-ops and DowElanco in Joint Venture (V)

GROWMARK, Inc., of Bloomington, IL, and Farmland

Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, have joined forces

with DowElanco in a joint venture with the goal of

bringing a new nitrification inhibitor to the marketplace. DowElanco will be responsible for the registration and commercialization of the product (XDE 474).

GROWMARK and Farmland will support development of the product and eventually market it.

Mississippi Chemical Forms

New Subsidiary (E)

Mississippi Chemical Corp. (MCC), Yazoo City, MS,

has established a wholly owned subsidiary,

Mississippi Potash, Inc., to oversee the cooperative’s

muriate potash production. The new business will

operate MCC’s Carlsbad, NM, mine and refinery,

which produces granular potash.

August 1993

Rice/and Enters Joint Venture

with Japanese (V)

Riceland Foods, Inc., Stuttgart, AR, has joined with

two Japanese firms to extract, refine, and market rice

bran and oil in new facilities to be constructed in

Stuttgart. Riceland’s partners in the project are Tokyo

Oil Mills (TOM) Inc., a well-established rice bran oil

processor, and Itochu Corp., of Osaka, one of the

world’s major international trading companies.

Riceland will supply rice bran and extract and process

the rice bran oil. TOM will supply technical assistance

and Itochu will take the lead in marketing the oil in the

U.S. and international markets, including Japan. Cash

contributions from the three firms for construction and

equipment will total nearly $10 million. Riceland will

make additional contributions in the form of existing

plants and equipment.

Farmland Continues To Beef Up (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has created a joint venture to acquire the National Beef Packing

Co., in Liberal, KS. This marks the second major beef

venture for the regional cooperative. Farmland’s partners in the joint venture are John R. Miller of Park City,

UT, and Idle Wild Foods. Farmland and Miller also

operate Hyplains Beef as a joint venture in Dodge City.

The new acquisition includes Supreme Feeders, a feedlot near Liberal. Farmland now becomes the fourth

largest beef packer in the country and one of the

largest suppliers of Angus beef.

June 1993

Mid-Am Building Technical Center (E)

Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO, is

investing $3.5 million to construct a 38,000-square-foot

technical center next to its corporate headquarters in

Springfield, MO. Mid-Am food technologists created

some 300 new food product ideas last year, 50 of which

are now in the marketplace.

May 1993

Agway Seeks To Sell Curtice Burns (C)

Agway Inc. is seeking to sell its interest in Curtice

Burns, a Rochester, NY-based food processing company that Agway helped to create 32 years ago. Agway

says the sale is in keeping with an ongoing restructuring effort aimed at focusing the cooperative’s attention

on its agriculture, consumer retailing, energy, insuring

26
and leasing business. An Agway subsidiary, Agway

Holdings, Inc., owns about 34 percent, or 2.9 million

shares of Curtice Burns’ outstanding common shares.

Pro-Fat Cooperative will bid for the stock. Growers

who supply commodities to Curtice Burns own ProFat. Pro-Fat owns the processing equipment and facilities used by Curtice Burns and receives 50 percent of

its pre-tax earnings.

Tri Valley Growers To Acquire SACCO (E)

The California peach canning industry continues to

consolidate with the news that Tri Valley Growers

(TVG) of San Francisco, CA, has reached a processing

and marketing agreement with Sacramento Growers

Cooperative (SACCO). TVG will begin selling SACCO

member’s peaches and fruit cocktail. TVG will purchase food processing equipment and some other

assets formerly operated by Sierra Quality Canning,

Inc., of Sacramento. This move leaves two major players in the California peach canning industry: Tri Valley

and Del Monte, a privately owned company.

Mid-Am To Open Processing Plant

in New Mexico (E)

Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO, will

build a milk processing plant in east-central New

Mexico to tap the 13 percent annual growth rate in

milk production in the Southwestern United States.

New Mexico is the fastest-growing milk producing

State in the Nation.

March 1993

Mid-Am, California Co-op in Pact (A)

In its second venture into the California market, MidAmerica Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO, is combining its marketing activities with the 150-member State

Dairy Association of California near Los Angeles.

Under the agreement, both organizations will retain

their individual identities and existing boards of directors. Fluid milk marketing functions will be closely

coordinated for improved marketing.

The agreement gives California producers access to

State, national, and international markets for its dairy

products. Mid-Am said the agreement was important

to Midwest producers because of the growing influence of California milk production on milk prices

nationally. Mid-Am has formed a California operations

group to manage the affairs of State Dairy Association

and Mid-Am’s existing California Division at Willows.

Nationwide, SSC in Sponsorship Pact (A)

Nationwide Insurance of Columbus, OH, and

Southern States Cooperative, Inc. (SSC), of Richmond,

VA, have signed a sponsorship pact that calls for the

two organizations to work on mutually beneficial services. Initial activities will be focused on Virginia

where SSC will assist Nationwide in publicizing the

insurer’s products and services. The agreement will

not affect operation of Southern States Insurance

Exchange, which provides commercial insurance to

some SSC member cooperatives and dealers.

January 1993

Darigold, LOL in Feed Venture (V)

Land O’Lakes (LOL) Western Feeds has combined

operations with Darigold Feeds, of Seattle, WA. Under

the joint venture, LOL will lease Darigold’s feed assets

and manage the combined operation as a single business. Results of the joint venture will be shared by

both cooperatives and does not affect the dairy operations of either cooperative.

LOL Expands Biotechnology Research (V)

Biotechnology research conducted for more than a

decade by a subsidiary of Land 0’ Lakes, Inc. (LOL), at

Minneapolis, to develop biopharmaceutical products

for humans and animals, is being expanded. ProCor

Technologies, Inc., the subsidiary, is being merged into

a new venture, GalaGen Inc., based in the Twin Cities.

It will be owned by LOL and private investors and

focus exclusively on human biopharmaceutical products.

Gregg’s Foods Joins Harvest States (E)

Gregg’s Foods, Portland, OR, has been purchased by

Harvest States Cooperatives of St. Paul, MN, to

expand the cooperative’s value-added business in the

Pacific Northwest. The firm has joined the cooperative’s grain and food processing group within the

Holsum Foods Division.

December 1992

Harvest States Forms Joint Venture (V)

Harvest States Cooperatives, of St. Paul, MN, and

Farmland Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, have

formed a joint venture to manufacture pet food in an

Owatonna, MN, feed plant operated by GTA Feeds

that was built in 1968. The joint venture agreement created a new company called Harvest States/Farmland

Specialty Feeds Company. The agreement has

27
Farmland purchasing 50 percent interest in the

Owatonna facility and sharing profits with Harvest

States on a 50-50 basis.

November 1992

Farmers Grain Buys ADM Terminal (E)

Farmers Grain Terminal, Inc., Greenville, MS, has purchased the river terminal at Lake Village, AR, from

Archer Daniels Midland. The facility is within the

cooperative’s existing service area. Farmers Grain also

has facilities in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Prairie Farms Buys Indiana Firm (E)

Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., Carlinville, IL, has purchased

the Dairy Rich Ice Cream Company at Merrillville, IN.

Dairy Rich was a family owned company for many

years. Prairie Farms retained the personnel from the

acquired company.

Cooperatives (Producers Livestock) Agree on

Hog Facility (A)

Producers Livestock Association, Columbus, OH, has

leased its facility in Washington, IN, to Producers

Marketing Association, also a cooperative to ensure

continuation of hog marketing services to area farmers.

October 1992

Pasta Plant (Dakota Growers)

Construction Starts (E)

Dakota Growers Pasta Company at Carrington, ND,

has begun construction on its $43 million cooperative

durum wheat mill and pasta plant, representing the

first time farmers formed a cooperative to build a vertically integrated pasta plant.

Agway Initiates Restructuring (R)

A 3-year $75-million restructuring program,

“Customer Driven: 1995..Focusing on the 21st

Century,” has been initiated at Agway Inc., Syracuse,

NY, the largest agricultural cooperative in the

Northeast, following an &month study. The study centered on the market demand of three core businessesagriculture, consumer, and energy. Agway seeks to

improve service, reduce costs, and increase profitability. The study demonstrated the need for Agway to

streamline its organizational structure and tap new

systems and technology.

Farmland Venture in SD Ethanol Plant (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, and South

Dakota Wheat Growers Association, at Aberdeen, have

formed a joint venture to build an ethanol manufacturing plant. The plant will be operated by Heartland

Grain Fuels, LP, the subsidiary formed by the two

cooperatives. The $8 million plant will process 1.6 million bushels of corn into 4 million gallons of ethanol

per year and employ about 20 people.

September 1992

Midwest Co-ops Sold at Auction (U)

Two Midwest cooperatives have been sold via auctions. The fixed assets of the Farmers Cooperative

Association of Blue Rapids, KS, were sold to Beattie

(KS) Cooperative. Farmers Elevator Company of

Ellsworth, MN, was sold to Adrian (MN) Cooperative.

CENEX Buys Farmland’s Share of NCRA (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has agreed

to sell its share of ownership in the National

Cooperative Refinery Association (NCRA), at

McPherson, KS, to CENEX, Inc., of St. Paul, MN. The

sale, approved by the boards of directors of the two

regional cooperatives, will increase CENEX ownership

in the 75,000-barrel-per-day refinery from 43.7 to 74.2

percent. The purchase price of Farmland’s equity ownership will be determined at the closing of NCRA’s fiscal year June 30. The sale is subject to NCRA board

and Government approval. The other NCRA owners

are GROWMARK, Inc., of Bloomington, IL, with an

18.9 percent share, and MFA Oil Company of

Columbia, MO, with a 6.8 percent share. The sale will

result in increased distribution efficiencies and balance

supply and demand for both regionals. Under a product agreement being negotiated as part of the terms,

Farmland will continue to access product out of the

NCRA refinery and CENEX will draw product from

the 62,000-barrel-per-day Farmland refinery at

Coffeyville, KS.

August 1992

West Central Opens Soybean Plant (E)

West Central Cooperative of Ralston, IA, has opened a

$5.5 million soybean processing plant that is capable of

processing 20,000 bushels of soybeans daily. It produces a bypass protein-enhanced soybean meal for

livestock rations as well as soybean oil for feed use.

Most of the soybean bypass product will be distributed

to dairy producers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, New

28
York, Pennsylvania, and other dairy states. West

Central has patented many of the processes it uses to

make soybean products.

Coulee Co-op To Market Organic

Nonfat Yogurt (V)

The Coulee Region Produce Pool (CROPP), La Farge,

WI, a small organic dairy and produce cooperative,

has agreed to a joint venture with Natural Horizons,

Inc., Madison, WI, to manufacture six flavors of organic nonfat yogurt. The cooperative now markets 17 varieties of organic cheese and two types of organic butter

under the “Organic Valley” trade name.

Mergers Create New Co-ops

(Prairieland, Midland) (U)

AG Processing, Inc., Omaha, NE, reports the formation

of two new member cooperatives due to mergers.

Stockholders of Windom, Mountain Lake, Jeffers and

Heron Lake, MN, formed Prairie Land Cooperative.

The cooperatives at Wilcox, Axtel, Funk, and Ragan,

NE, formed Midland Cooperatives at Funk.

ADlWGROWMARK Buys River Terminal (E)

ADM/GROWMARK, the subsidiary of Archer Daniel

Midland Co., of Decatur, IL, and GROWMARK, Inc., of

Bloomington, IL, acquired a number of U.S. assets

from Garnac, a Swiss multi-national firm. Purchase of

the river terminals at Beardstown and Keithsburg, IL,

and Burlington, IA, will provide additional grain outlets, especially for the regional’s member companies in

western Illinois and eastern Iowa.

May 1992

Farmland Upgrades Coffeyville Refinery (R)

Environmental upgrades totaling $90 million are being

invested at the Coffeyville (KS) refinery owned by

Farmland Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, to

update technology used for removing oil from water. It

will also handle a greater volume of waste water more

efficiently. A new sulfur recovery project also has been

initiated.

Tri Valley Closing Tomato Plant (C)

Tri Valley Growers of San Francisco will close a tomato

cannery and warehouse at Hollister, CA, due to

changing customer needs and a worldwide oversupply

of processed tomatoes.

MFA Oil in New Home (R)

MFA Oil Company, for 42 years in downtown

Columbia, MO, has moved into its newly constructed

45,000-square-foot headquarters on a 26-acre site in

southeastern Columbia.

DCA Merges with Darigold (U)

Dairymen’s Creamery Association (DCA), Caldwell,

ID, has merged with Darigold Farms, at Seattle, WA.

The effective date was retroactive to Dec. 1,1991, when

DCA members approved the combination. The 76-

year-old DCA has been serving diary farmers in northern Idaho and eastern Washington State. The merger is

the latest in a number of new changes for Darigold in

the past few years. Darigold recently opened a new

manufacturing plant in Sunnyside, WA.

MFA, Hubbard in Joint Venture (V)

MFA, Inc., Columbia, MO, and Hubbard Milling

Company, Mankato, MN, have established a joint venture to manufacture and market pet food in Missouri

and adjacent areas. The joint venture will be called

MFA/Hubbard Pet Food. It will manufacture primarily private label cat and dog foods and sell them

through retail stores, especially in Kansas City and St.

Louis, MO. To meet production needs, MFA/Hubbard

has begun construction of a new pet food plant at

Butler, MO.

Mid-America Dairymen, A-G Co-op

Consolidate (U)

A-G Cooperative, in Arcadia, WI, has consolidated

with Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO.

The addition of AG’s members and state-of-the-art

cheese plant and whey processing center is expected to

fill a void in Mid-Am’s Northern Division.

Consolidation assured continuation of the plant at

Arcadia and market security for members through

Mid-Am.

Gold Kist Buys Poultry, Supply Outlets (E)

Gold Kist Inc., of Atlanta, GA, has acquired poultry

production operations in Florida and farm supply

facilities in Alabama. The 615-acre poultry operations-hatchery, breeding farms, pullet growing farms,

and broiler farms-were purchased from Townsend

Farms, Inc., and added to Gold Kist’s Florida division

at Live Oak. The processing operation has since been

expanded. The fertilizer dealership was added to the

cooperative’s store at Cullman, AL.

29
Wheat Grower Ethanol Plant Progressing (V)

Construction of the new 4-million-gallon ethanol production plant at Aberdeen, SD, a joint venture between

Farmland Industries, Inc., and South Dakota Wheat

Growers Association, is on schedule. The goal for having the plant operational has been advanced to Jan. 1,

1993. When completed, the operation will market its

ethanol energy and byproducts in North and South

Dakota.

March 1992

Minnesota Beet Sugar Co-op Expands (E)

Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative at Renville, MN,

plans to raise about $13.3 million in a stock sale to

finance expansion of its factory and receiving facility

Plans include equipment purchases and factory

upgrades. The increase from 1.5 million to 2 million

tons per year should allow the cooperative to produce

sugar 290 days rather than the current 210 days.

Farmland, 13 Locals in Feed Venture (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, and 13 of

its local cooperative members have formed a joint venture to construct and manufacture liquid supplement

livestock feeds. The venture, called Southwest Liquids,

is building a plant adjacent to Farmland’s feed mill in

Dodge City, KS. The partners will share capital invested in the limited liability company. Costs and any losses or profits will also be shared bases on each member’s capital investment. There will be no patronage

refunds. Farmland will operate the plant and sell liquid feed directly to producers. Other members are

cooperatives at Garden City, Scott City, Healy, Great

Bend, Ulysees, Offerle, Cimarron, Minnealoa, Beeler,

Arlington, Beloit, and Sterling.

Central Livestock Adds Albany (E)

Central Livestock Association, of South St. Paul, MN,

has opened a new marketing facility in Albany, MN.

The facility features a computerized ring scale and

restaurant.

save $43,000 by reducing duplicate services. Net worth

for Rumpus Ridge was $693,000 and $3.4 million for

Salem. The cooperatives had 63 duplicate members.

Illinois Co-ops Merge (U)

Two new Illinois cooperatives, both members of

GROWMARK, Inc., have merged. AG-Land FS was

formed from the combination of Logan FS and

Tazewell FS. The former Logan manager will manage

the new cooperative. The Tazewell manager retired.

The new board will have 10 members.

Three FS Cooperatives Uni@ (U)

In Northern Illinois, three FS cooperatives in Boone

and Winnebago counties were combined to create

Riverview FS, Inc. The combined 16-member board

will be downsized to 12 at the annual meeting.

LOL Closing Two FatNvhey Plants (C)

Two fat/whey plants in Minnesota owned by Land

O’Lakes, Inc., will be closed this year and operations

transferred to Browerville, MN. The Milica plant will

operate until May; the Rush City facility until October.

The plants have been used to manufacture ingredients

used to make calf milk replacer.

AFC Builds Catfish Feed Mill (E)

Alabama Farmers Co-op, at Demopolis, is building a

$4 million catfish feed mill. The mill will have two

extruders with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons and a

20,000-ton pellet mill. The new mill is being located in

the heart of the State’s catfish production belt.

Alabama has 20,000 acres in catfish production, ranking it third in the Nation.

GTA Buys Feed Company (E)

GTA Feeds of Sioux Falls, SD, a division of Harvest

States Cooperatives, at St. Paul, MN, has purchased

Norco Mills, an animal feed manufacturer in Iowa and

Nebraska. The acquisition gives GTA six additional

feed mills and moves it into the big cattle and hog production States of the Western Corn Belt and Plains.

CENEX Co-ops in SD Merge (U) Co-op Grain Broker (FCC) Opens

Farmers Union Cooperative Association of McCook Ohio Office (E)

County, SD, has been formed from the merger of Salem Farmers Commodities Corp. (FCC), a regional grain

CENEX Service Center and Rumpus Ridge CENEX at brokerage cooperative at Des Moines, IA, has opened

Canistota. The combined boards will be reduced to an office at Perrysburg (near Dayton), OH, to serve

seven members elected at-large by 1994. The trade ter- member cooperatives in the Eastern Corn Belt and

ritory of the two cooperatives considerably overlapped end-users in the East and Southeast.

in eastern South Dakota. The merger was expected to

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February 1992

Southern States Expands Operations (E)

Southern States Cooperatives’ year was marked by

several innovations-opening a state-of-the-art feed

mill at Farmville, NC, to serve that area’s swine business; a major reorganization that created a sales and

marketing division to reduce management layers in

the retail structure and put more highly trained

staffers in the field. Wetsel Seed Co., the subsidiary

purchased last year, exceeded both sales volume and

net income goals.

Riceland Co-ops Acquired (U)

Twenty-two local grain drying cooperatives affiliated

with Riceland Foods, Stuttgart, AR, were acquired by

the regional. Nearly 6,000 members of the affiliates

participated in the vote, with 94 percent favoring the

move. The total package cost Riceland about $48 million including obligations to redeem $34 million in

equities and $13.6 million in long-term debt. Current

and former members received $11.6 million in redemptions of the dryer’s certificates of equity. Members saw

immediate benefits in the form of lower drying

charges and the freedom to deliver grain to the nearest

facility. Over the next 5 years, Riceland plans to invest

$30 million for improvements. The former affiliate

boards will be continued to provide marketing advice

to Riceland, collect and distribute earnings derived

from grain origination, and redeem members’ allocated equity.

January 1992

Cooperative (UCF) Opens Mill in Maine (E)

United Cooperative Farmers, Inc., Fitchburg, MA, has

formally opened a feed mill in Auburn, ME, that it

acquired from Carter Milling Company in 1989. The

co-op invested about $2 million in upgrades including

a series of grain silos, new truck scale, dump sink for

incoming truck ingredients, new conveying system,

and a computerized mixing system.

Wisconsin Dairy Co-ops (Tri-State Milk,

Chaseburg Coop Creamery) Merge (U)

Two Wisconsin dairy cooperatives have agreed to

merge. The move allows both Tri-State Milk

Cooperative, at West Salem, and Chaseburg

Cooperative Creamery Company to continue their

operations. The surviving Tri-State, which previously

had no processing facility, will supply milk to

Chaseburg so its cheese plant can operate more efficiently.

Fruita Buys United Fruit Growers (U)

United Fruit Growers, of Palisade, CO, and Fruita

Consumers Cooperative Association, Inc., have

announced United’s acquisition by Fruita. United will

continue to operate under its branch manager. Its retail

operations at East Valley will expand to handle farm

production supplies. The fruit packing and marketing

functions will be continued. New contracts and additional fruit growers will be sought.

December 1991

Sea/d-Sweet in New Headquarters (R)

With an eye toward being closer to its growers and

shippers, Seald-Sweet Growers, Inc., the Florida citrus

marketing cooperative, has moved its headquarters

from Tampa to a new building at Vero Beach as the

first step in a new restructuring plan. The cooperative’s international division has opened markets for

white and red grapefruit in Europe and the Pacific

Rim. Two new packinghouses-Hubert Graves

Packing Company, Ft. Pierce, and C. Greg Poucher

Fruit Company, Wahcula-have become associate

members. Graves had been a member 9 years ago,

while Poucher joined for the first time.

MBG Adds Arkansas Growers (A)

MBG Marketing Inc., Grand Junction, MI (formerly

Michigan Blueberry Growers), is now marketing for

Arkansas Blueberry Growers. The addition gives MBG

about 25 percent of the cultivated blueberry crop in the

country and includes 550 growers in Michigan,

Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida.

Universal Sells Paint Plant (C)

Universal Cooperatives, Minneapolis, MN, sold a

paint blending plant at Alliance, OH, to Alliance Paint

and Coating, Inc. Alliance will continue to blend COOP label paints and coatings for Universal’s member

cooperatives.

Tillamook Renovates Cheese Plant (R)

A $1 million renovation of Tillamook (OR) County

Creamery Association’s cheese plant makes it one of

the Nation’s larger cheese production and packaging

facilities.

31
American Crystal To Expand (E)

A $31 million molasses desugarization project is

planned by American Crystal Sugar Company at its

facility in Grand Forks, MN. The investment represents the second largest by the cooperative since sugarbeet growers purchased the firm for $86 million in

1973. The only larger project was the 1976 expansion

that more than doubled the plant size at East Grand

Forks.

Co-op Joins SD Wheat Growers (U)

Stockholders of McLaughlin (SD) Farmers Cooperative

Association have voted 89-10 to join South Dakota

Wheat Growers. The merger was earlier approved, 30-

3, by the wheat grower’s board. Several years of

drought had caused large operating losses at the 51-

year-old McLaughlin cooperative.

September 1991

Farmland Buys Propane Wholesaler (E)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has

acquired the wholesale propane operations of

Midstates Energy, Inc., a propane and refined fuels

wholesaler at Gowrie, IA. It was previously operated

as a partnership by Consolidated Cooperative, Gowrie,

and Farmers Cooperative Company, Farnhamville, IA.

Midstates operated propane marketing and contracting programs with customers in 11 Midwest States.

Co-ops (Swiss Valley Alto) Form

Fluid Milk Pact (A)

Two upper Midwest dairy cooperatives, Swiss Valley

Farms of Davenport, IA, and Alto Dairy Cooperative

of Waupun, WI, have signed a fluid milk marketing

agreement. Alto will supply fluid milk from its manufacturing facilities to Swiss Valley’s fluid milk plants

that serve the upper Midwest. Swiss Valley operates

bottling plants in Chicago, IL, and Dubuque, IA, a specialty products plant at Cedar Rapids, IA, and cheese

plants in Iowa and Wisconsin. Alto operates three

cheese plants in Wisconsin-Waupun, Black Creek,

and Plymouth.

California Tomato Growers

Association Moves (R)

California Tomato Growers Association has moved to

a new location in Stockton. Former offices and property in Stockton were sold earlier. New quarters of the

bargaining association include facilities to accommodate large meetings that formerly had to be held offpremise.

32

August 1991

CENEX Transfers Ethanol Plant

Ownership To ADM (C)

The CENEX board of directors has approved transfer

of its ownership share in an ethanol plant at Walhalla,

ND, to its partner, Archer Daniel Midland Company

(ADM), the Nation’s leading producer of ethanol. But

the regional will continue its commitment to marketing and distributing ethanol-enhanced fuels. CENEX

had fulfilled its objective of returning the plant to production, after it had been closed for a year after bankruptcy of its former owners. CENEX acquired an ownership interest in partnership with ADM in November

1987. Since then, CENEX has participated in a $1.3 million upgrading of the plant. The transfer of ownership

was prompted by major expenditures anticipated in

coming years in its petroleum-related businesses.

June 1991

Gold Kist Expands Florida Poultry Plant (E)

Production capacity will increase by half to 46.8 million chickens a year when expansion is completed in

July at Gold Kist’s poultry division at Live Oak, FL.

Both the processing plant and hatchery are being

expanded. This is the second addition since the plant

was built in 1967.

Gold Kist Buys Alabama Fertilizer Supplier (E)

Gold Kist has purchased the Shaw Farm Center in

Athens, one of Alabama’s largest volume fertilizer

suppliers. Aspects of the operation will be expanded.

WDCI Sells Fluid Business To Dean (C)

Western Dairymen Cooperative, Inc., Thornton, CO,

has sold its fluid milk and ice cream businesses and

leased the processing facilities used with them to Dean

Foods. The purchase includes the cooperative’s

“Cream O’Weber” brand. The cooperative will continue to build on its strength as a supplier of raw milk,

cheese, and related services in the intermountain West.

FCC Forms Truck Grain Subsidiary (E)

A new subsidiary cooperative company has been

formed by Farmers Commodities Corporation (FCC),

West Des Moines, IA, to provide marketing and merchandising services for grain trucked from local elevators. The new company, Farmers Grain Dealers (FGD),

Inc., has hired four brokers to serve as the nucleus of a

merchandising staff. The firm will deal strictly in
trucked grain and will neither own facilities nor trade

track grain. Membership is open to all current FCC

members as well as other local cooperatives.

AGP Buys Oil Company (E)

Ag Processing, Inc. (AGP), Omaha, NE, has purchased

a vegetable oil refinery at Dennison, TX, about 15

miles from the Oklahoma border. The refinery was

originally built and operated by Safeway Stores. The

plant refines and blends vegetable oils such as cottonseed, sunflower seed, canola, and soybean oil. It has

equipment to winterize vegetable oils that AGP lacks

at St. Joseph, MO.

Valley Fig Growers Add $1.4 Million Facility (E)

In a commitment to members, Valley Fig Growers of

Fresno, CA, has invested $1.4 million to bring warehouse and receiving operations on-site by constructing

three new building to replace deteriorating and inefficient off-site facilities. One building is a 32,000-squarefoot cold-storage area that holds 6,500 tons of dried

figs. The second is a 7,500-square-foot grading and

sampling building that includes the scalehouse and

office. An adjacent 70-foot truck scale accommodates

grower deliveries on-site rather than forcing them to

use a public scale several miles away. The third building holds three concrete fumigation chambers, each

capable of handling a full day’s deliveries.

Farmland Opens Cogeneration Plant (E)

A new $34.5 million cogeneration plant has been

opened at Farmland Industries’ Bartow (FL) phosphate

fertilizer complex that saves $700,000 a month in electricity bills. It produces sulfuric acid required for phosphate fertilizer manufacturing and generates enough

electricity to power the entire complex. The new plant

generates power from burning sulfur required on the

daily operation of the fertilizer manufacturing operation. It also abates pollution by converting most of the

burned sulfur gasses into sulfuric acid. Excess electricity produced can be sold back to the power company.

Farmland Buys Pork Processor (E)

Farmland Foods, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, has

acquired a leading East Coast regional specialty meat

and ham producer. The pork processing and marketing

subsidiary of Farmland Industries purchased Carando

Co., Springfield, MA. The firm is a division of Di

Giorgio Corp., a food wholesaler serving the New York

City area. Carando markets its brand of Italian specialty meats to supermarkets and delicatessens throughout the Northeast and Midwest. The firm has processing facilities in Springfield, MA, plus Carey and New

Riegel, OH. The acquisition will give Farmland an

opportunity to move excess raw materials from

Midwest slaughter facilities into value-added consumer products.

April 1991

Tri Valley To Build Third Can Plant (E)

Tri Valley Growers Container Division, Inc., a wholly

owned subsidiary of the San Francisco-based fruit and

vegetable processing and marketing cooperative, plans

to build a third can manufacturing plant in Merced,

CA. The company owns and operates existing plants

in Modesto and Fremont. The new plant is expected to

employ 100 when opened later this year.

March 1991

SSC Adds Caffish Feed (E)

A $3 million catfish food production facility will be

added to a full-line feed mill being built in Farmville,

NC, by Southern States Cooperative (SCC), Inc, of

Richmond, VA. The new mill is expected to begin

operating later this year. It will replace an existing mill

built in 1961. The catfish facility is expected to be in

full production for the 1992 catfish growing season.

SSC also has negotiated a multi-year contract to supply catfish feed to Carolina Classics, an aquaculture

operation in North Carolina.

Gold Kist To Buy Campbell Soup

Broiler Unit (E)

A frozen food and broiler complex owned by

Campbell Soup Company will be acquired by Gold

Kist Inc., of Atlanta, GA, according to a letter of inten

signed by the cooperative. Gold Kist is one of the top

10 broiler producers in the country. The complex

includes a feed mill, hatchery, and two grain storage

facilities. The cooperative also has a large grow-out

system to produce broilers. The acquisition will put

the cooperative back into the broiler operations in

South Carolina.

February 1991

Farmland Plans Broadcast Service (V)

With an eye toward increasing its communication

capability with member cooperatives, Farmland

Industries, Inc., of Kansas City, MO, has formed a partnership with two other agricultural firms to establish a

national broadcast information service. Its partners are

Illinois Farm Bureau, largest of the State Farm

33
Bureaus, and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.,

world’s largest independent agricultural genetics company. The service, available in early 1991, will provide

information on commodity prices, market news and

advisories, general agricultural news, weather, agronomic updates, and crop and livestock reports.

Proprietary information from the partners will be

offered with emphasis on local news including grain

and livestock production supply prices. The venture is

intended to create a national network many companies

could use to deliver timely information to farmers.

January 1991

Wheat Growers Rebound, Expand (E)

A rebound from the drought and expanded services

were earmarks of fiscal 1989 operations of South

Dakota Wheat Growers Association at Aberdeen. The

cooperative purchased Oakes Fertilizer, the first facility in North Dakota, and acquired five Harms Oil bulk

plants and half interest in Harms Oil wholesale operation.

November 1990

GROWMARK Member Co-ops

Form Prairie FS Fuels (V)

Three GROWMARK member cooperatives have

formed a special company to supply FS petroleum

products to customers in a 250-square-mile trade territory in central Illinois. Members of Prairie FS Fuels,

Inc., are Livingston Service and McLean County

Service, both farm supply cooperatives, and a grain

member, Prairie Central Cooperative. Estimated volume will be 4 million gallons. More than 2 million gallons of the volume came from the purchased assets of

Todd Oil Company of Chenoa, IL. Prairie will be operated via a management agreement with McLean

County Service. Each cooperative is contributing two

directors to the board.

Three Illinois Cooperatives Born (U)

Consolidation, acquisition, and merger were involved

in the formation of three new Illinois local cooperatives in the GROWMARK system this fall. Created

were AgriPride, Inc., at Nashville, serving 1,200 farmers in Clinton, Washington, and Jefferson Counties;

Perryville FS, Inc., near Rockford, formed by the consolidation of Boone and Winnebago county cooperatives and their acquisition of Sandahl Farm Service;

and Union Grain and Supply at Hammond, formed by

the merger of Atwood and Pierson Grain and Supply

companies.

Greenwood Co-op Joins LOL (U)

Members of Greenwood (WI) Milk Products

Cooperative voted to join Land 0’ Lakes, Inc. (LOL), at

Minneapolis and thereby relinquish the Class A member status they had held for the past 25 years.

Greenwood will become LOL’s seventh major plant

and first in central Wisconsin. It provides a strategic

link between LOL’s Minnesota service area and members of its Lake to Lake subsidiary in eastern

Wisconsin.

October 1990

Sunsweet Prepares Eastern Operation (E)

Conversion of the bottling plant at Fleetwood, PA, by

Sunsweet Growers, Inc., of Yuba City, CA, has begun

with an eye for startup in mid-November and manufacturing prune juice for the cooperative by next

February. The recently acquired plant will give

Sunsweet its first manufacturing outlet in the East. The

cooperative also plans to offer custom packing service

to other companies.

Illinois Co-ops Form Gateway FS (U)

Two southwestern Illinois cooperatives-Monroe

Service Company and Randolph Service Companyhave merged to form Gateway FS, a grain marketing

and farm supply cooperative headquartered at Red

Bud, adjacent to the cooperative’s grain elevator. Main

offices of the previously separate cooperatives will be

closed. Combined volume of the new cooperative will

be $73 million. The new operation will have 100

employees and facilities at 14 locations in adjoining

Monroe and Randolph counties. Gateway is expected

to save $200,000 a year after its first year of consolidation by eliminating duplicate insurance, audits, annual

meetings, and personnel. The combination is also

expected to enable the cooperative to provide

improved technical and specialized services that meet

growing Government regulations.

September 1990

Agway Combines Feed, Crops Divisions (R)

The feed and crops divisions of Agway Inc., at

Syracuse, NY, have been combined. The accounting

functions were already being combined and the next

34
natural step was to combine the two divisions. Many

of the Agway feed mills and fertilizer blending plants

are on the same sites.

Golden Poultry Expands (E)

When Golden Poultry, subsidiary of Gold Kist Inc., at

Atlanta, GA, opens its chicken processing plant in

December at Russellville, AL, the company expects to

increase its production capacity by 50 percent. The

new division was added because of the recent surge in

poultry demand due to supplying the fast food market.

Southern Farmers Mill Renovated (R)

Southern Farmers Association (SFA), at North Little

Rock, AR, has completed renovation of its Pine Bluff,

AR, feed manufacturing plant, doubling its feed production capacity from 25,000 tons to 50,000 tons. The

increased capacity will enable SFA to meet market

opportunities, such as the growing market for catfish

feed. The renovation also enables the cooperative to

manufacture its own line of pet foods that it had been

purchasing from other sources.

Farmland Unveils New identity (R)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has

unveiled a new identity aimed at establishing it in the

public mind as a company just as involved in food

processing as it has been in farm supplies for more

than 60 years. The changeover began in May with a

new logo showing up on stationary, product packages,

advertising promotional materials, and company publications. The familiar Double Circle emblem identified

with the cooperative will be blended with the new

logo in some situations.

Farmland To Build Hog Facility (E)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, plans to

develop a 700-sow hybrid gilt genetic multiplier unit

on a 234-acre site in Putman County, MO. The facility

will produce about 14,000 pigs a year with emphasis

on uniform quality and lean meat for Farmland Foods

processing plants.

August 1990

Sunrise Cooperative Created (U)

Three Ohio member cooperatives of Countrymark,

Inc., merged to create Sunrise Cooperative, Inc., operating out of Norwalk, with a combined sales base of

more than $33 million. The new cooperative will have

five branch locations.

CENEWLOL Start Swine Program (V)

CENEX/Land O’Lakes of Minneapolis, MN, has introduced New Era Swine Management Services, a comprehensive management program that includes production evaluation and information, herd health,

equipment and facilities review, analysis of nutrition

and feeding, profit analysis, and planning. New Era

was developed to help hog producers tie a lot of these

management decisions together.

Farmland Garden Centers Growing (E)

Eleven new GardenPride Garden Centers have been

opened by Farmland Industries’ member cooperatives

in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. The centers

carry the Farmland 5-Step Lawn Care Program, live

plants, and other garden accessories. Some centers

have been so popular that patrons drive 40-50 miles to

shop at them.

Tri Valley Growers Buys Cannery (E)

Food processing capabilities of Tri Valley Growers

(TVG) at San Francisco, CA, have been expanded with

acquisition of F.G. Wool Packing Company in San Jose.

The purchase includes plant equipment and machinery, but not the San Jose cannery. TVG also signed fruit

delivery contracts with 54 former Wool growers providing apricots, peaches, pears, and grapes. The purchase will give the cooperative flexibility in its operations and should generate additional income from its

canned fruit items.

Dairylea Plans New Headquarters (I?)

Dairylea Cooperative, Inc., of Syracuse, NY, plans to

build a new corporate headquarters at a 4 l/2-acre site

west of the city. About 40 employees will be involved

in the move when the new facility is completed early

in 1991. The cooperative divested itself of manufacturing operations in late 1988 and since then has developed innovative member programs and services and

generated improved earnings.

Ag Processing Expands (E)

Ag Processing, Inc. (AGP), Omaha, NE, has purchased

Farmers Cooperative Company terminal elevator in

southeast Lincoln, NE. The facility has about 9 million

bushels of capacity, including concrete silos, upright

steel tanks, and flat storage units. The terminal was

purchased by the local cooperative in 1985 from

Farmland Industries, Inc., but it no longer fits into the

Lincoln cooperative’s strategic plans. The facility will

provide additional marketing opportunities for AGE’s

growing Nebraska membership.

35
July 1990

Dairymen, Inc., Begins Third Decade,

Streamlines Operations (R)

Dairymen, Inc., at Louisville, KY, is concentrating on

its core business and streamlined internal operations

to gain greater efficiencies and boost members’ milk

checks. Division administrative offices are being

streamlined and the workforce is being reduced. The

cooperative is reevaluating and redirecting its

approach to delivering supply and equipment services

to its members. A seasonal balancing agreement

between Dairymen and three other southeastern dairy

cooperatives led to more efficient and effective use of

facilities. The cheese plant at Greenville, TN, purchased from Kraft continues to supply Kraft and has

since been extensively renovated and updated with

new equipment. Dairymen also began operating a

cheese plant at Carrolton, GA, owned by two southeastern dairy cooperatives.

April 1990

RGA Enters Limited Partnership (V)

Rice Growers Association (RGA) of California has

placed its West Sacramento properties, slightly more

than 50 acres bordering the Sacramento River, into a

limited partnership with Delta Group, a property

development partnership. Conclusion of the agreement by spring is expected to produce an up-front

cash payment of $21.78 million; 50 percent participation in proceeds from developing the property estimated at $14.28 million in profits; and permit RGA to lease

back administrative offices and continue to operate

drying and warehouse facilities until site preparation

gets underway.

Welch’s Completes U.S. Grape Purchase (U)

Assets and operations of U.S. Grape, Sunnyside, WA,

have been transferred from Tree Top, Inc., an apple

processing cooperative at Selah, WA, to Welch’s. Sale

of the former Tree Top subsidiary to Welch’s was formally completed earlier this year. Facilities were closed

and offered for sale. Stored juices were transferred to

Welch’s facility at Grandview, WA. The 51 grape growers, who had contracted more than 1,000 acres of vineyards to U.S. Grape, became members of National

Grape Co-operative that owns Welch’s.

Calavo Institutes Strategic Changes (R)

Faced with the consequences of the third consecutive

short-crop year, Calavo Growers of California has

instituted a series of strategic repositioning movesreducing overhead by $775,000, expanding Calavo

Foods, Inc., and restructuring its fresh products division.

Merger Forms Frontier Cooperative (U)

Members of local cooperatives at Brainard and Mead,

NE, were merged to form Frontier Cooperative, Inc.

Seventy-two percent of Brainard membership

approved the combination as did 80 percent from

Mead. The combined cooperative has 1,700 members,

41 employees, $55 million in sales, and $14 million in

assets. The boards of both cooperatives will serve as

Frontier directors until March 1993, when the number

will be reduced from 16 to 9.

February 1990

Welch’s Buys U.S. Grape Operations (E)

Welch’s has announced agreement with Tree Top, Inc.,

of Selah, WA, to purchase its assets and operations of

U.S. Grape in Washington State. Tree Top, a major

apple juice producer, had purchased U.S. Grape, a producer and marketer of bulk grape juice, in 1988. The

transaction includes a plant at Sunnyside, WA. U.S.

Grape processes about 13,000 tons of Concord grapes

from more than 1,600 acres of vineyards.

Lake to Lake Expands Cheese Capacity (E)

Improvements to Lake to Lake Division of Land

O’Lake’s cheese plant at Kiel, WI, has boosted potential production capacity to process 2 million pounds of

milk daily into cheese. A new cheddaring machine was

added this past fall.

Agri-Mark, Cabot Explore Ventures (V)

The boards of directors of Agri-Mark, Inc., Lawrence,

MA, and Cabot Farmers’ Cooperative Creamery,

Cabot, VT, have asked their management staffs to discuss possible joint ventures that might benefit both

cooperatives. Agri-Mark is in the process of decoupling from its relationship with HP Hood.

36
January 1990

SSC, Locals Form Finance Unit (R)

Southern States Cooperative (SSC), at Richmond, VA,

and 70 of its local cooperatives have formed Statesman

Financial Corp. to replace an earlier finance unit totally owned by SSC. Ownership is now equally split

between the regional and the locals. The unit finances

accounts receivable for SSC, installment sales, assets

for private dealers and independent cooperatives, and

new fixtures and equipment.

Tri Valley Buys New Jersey Processor (E)

Redpack Foods, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tri

Valley Growers of San Francisco, CA, has agreed to

buy the tomato processing operation of Clement

Pappas and Co., Inc., in Cedarville, NJ. The plant will

continue to process fresh tomatoes grown in Virginia,

Maryland, and New Jersey and expand repackaging of

California tomato products. The new regional distribution center is expected to put the cooperative’s products closer to the Northeast market.

Rice/and Building Research Center (E)

Construction has begun on a new research and technical center near Riceland Food’s headquarters in

Stuttgart, AR. The center will help researchers improve

and develop new uses for current products and develop new ones. It will study the processes for rice drying

and handling in a pilot plant that will house scaleddown models of rice dryers. The goal will be to develop new technologies for more efficiently drying and

handling rice. The center will include laboratories for

rice products, soybean oil, and lecithin products and

residential and commercial kitchens for testing consumer and foodservice products. Meanwhile, the cooperative has introduced a new line of Riceland Rice ‘N

Easy instant precooked consumer products.

November 1989

Countrymark Opens Lima Feed Mill (R)

A new $3.5 million feed manufacturing plant has been

opened at Lima, OH, by Countrymark, Inc., of

Delaware, OH, to replace one that was destroyed by an

explosion last year.

RGA Plans To Restructure (C)

Rice Growers Association of California at Sacramento

has announced a major restructuring of operations.

Changes involve the closing of some facilities and an

eventual cutback of up to 61 positions. The restructuring is expected to increase net savings by $2 million in

the current crop year and $3.5 million to $4 million for

the 1990 crop year.

October 1989

Universal Completes Dairy Equipment Sale (C)

Universal Cooperatives, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, has

completed the sale of its dairy equipment assets to

Alfa-Lava1 Agri., Inc. The Universal line of dairy

equipment, to be called Universal Dairy Equipment,

Inc., will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Alfa-Laval. All operating functions of Universal Dairy

Equipment, including sales, marketing, technical support, and distribution, will be headquartered in Kansas

City, MO. As part of a supply agreement, certain products will continue to be manufactured at Universal

Cooperative’s plant in Goshen, IN. The sale does not

affect the other operations and product lines provided

by Universal to its member cooperatives.

Mid-States Leases Aetna Grain Terminal (E)

Mid-State Terminals, Inc., the grain marketing subsidiary of Countrymark, Inc., at Toledo, OH, has

gained access to major grain terminals on the Great

Lakes. Mid-States has signed a lease on a 5.2-millionbushel grain terminal at Saginaw, MI, and a 6.5-million-bushel terminal at Ottawa Lake, MI.

Sun Pacific Joins Sunkist (U)

Sun Pacific Shippers, Inc., Exeter, CA, a producer and

packer of fresh oranges with an annual volume of 6

million cartons, has affiliated with Sunkist Growers,

Inc., of Van Nuys, CA. In the changeover, a new

Sunkist district exchange, Sun Pacific Exchange, will

be formed. The vertically integrated firm encompasses

growing, harvesting, and fruit marketing operations.

Farmland Foods Buys California Plant (E)

Farmland Foods, Inc., the subsidiary of Farmland

Industries, Inc., at Kansas City, MO, has gained direct

access to the West Coast market by purchasing Regal

Packing Company near Oakland, CA. Regal, a division

of Lucky Stores, Inc., markets hot dogs, luncheon

meats, and a specialty product under the Lucky Stores

label. Most of the plant’s production will continue to

be marketed under that and other private labels. The

plant has 60,000 square feet and employs 65 people. As

in the case of its Wichita plant, Farmland will ship raw

pork from plants in Crete, NE, and Denison, IA, to the

California facility.

37
Wisconsin Dairies Buys Conrath Plant (E)

Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative of Baraboo, WI, has

purchased the Conrath, WI, cheese plant. The plant

will continue to manufacture provolone, muenster, and

mozzarella cheeses. The Conrath plant, operated privately since 1967, had been operated as a farmerowned cooperative for 50-years prior to that.

Countrymark Links With

Communications Firm (V)

A business arrangement to provide satellite communications service to the area has been announced by

Countrymark, Inc., Delaware, OH, and Racal-Milgo

SkyNetworks of Charlotte, NC. Countrymark will

become the host location for a SkyNetworks Regional

Shared Hub in Central Ohio. Racal-Milgo will install,

manage, and maintain each customer’s VSAT network.

The system has nearly limitless applications such as

credit card processing, reservations, electronic mail,

point-of-sale video conferencing, disaster recovery,

and online data transmissions.

Missouri Firm To Market Dairyman’s

Cooperative Creamery Cheese (A)

Raskas Foods, Inc., St. Louis, MO, has signed an agreement with Dairyman’s Cooperative Creamery

Association, Tulare, CA, to direct the marketing, sales,

and product development of the cooperative’s cream

cheese.

Farmland Opens Research Unit (E)

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO, has

opened a 96-stall dairy research facility near Bonner

Springs, KS. The 17,000-square-foot structure is

designed for better herd management.

September 1989

Brokerage Services Offered (E)

Country Hedging, Inc., a subsidiary of Harvest States

Cooperatives, Inc., at St. Paul, MN, has opened a

branch office in the general office of the South Dakota

Wheat Growers in Aberdeen to provide market information, education, and brokerage service to grain and

livestock producers. The new office is one of only three

branches Country Hedging operates outside of St.

Paul.

ing house. Two retail facilities have been added, one at

Umatilla and the other at Dundee. Both fresh fruit and

Golden Gem-processed products will be sold at the

facilities. During the past year, the cooperative signed

up 94 new members with more than 3,000 acres widely

dispersed throughout the State.

Union Equity Closes Facilities (C)

Two of Union Equity Cooperative Exchange’s 17 terminal grain elevators have been closed. Affected were

one of the cooperative’s four elevators in Enid, OK,

and one of two at Fort Worth, TX. The pinch resulted

from less grain to market because of reduced hard red

winter wheat production.

Farmland, FCC Form Energy Brokerage (V)

Farmland Industries, Inc., and Farmers Commodity

Corporation (FCC) of Des Moines, IA, are forming an

energy brokerage firm based in Kansas City. Farmland

will be the primary stockholder. Membership will be

open to local cooperative members of both organizations. The new cooperative will become a clearing

member of the New York Mercantile Exchange for

energy futures trading. FCC’s energy department will

staff the Kansas City office with additional personnel

added for the New York clearing office. The transition

into the new business by FCC and Farmland is expected by mid-October.

Pure Gold Bows Out (C)

Pure Gold, Inc., a California citrus marketing cooperative formed in 1906, is liquidating its operations, selling various trademarks and its computer system. Its

sole remaining member, Arlington Heights Citrus of

Riverside, CA, began shipping through Sunkist

Growers on June 26. The affiliation (agreement) with

Sunkist is expected to move more Arlington Heights

fresh citrus into fresh channels and bring more growers into the packinghouse.

Vine/and Cooperative Expanding (E)

A $1.7 million expansion is underway at Vineland

Produce Cooperative Association at Vineland, NJ, one

of the largest farmer-owned auctions in the country.

Plans include adding platform space and vacuumcooling equipment. The Vineland auction, established

in 1932, does about $46 million in gross sales annually

and represents about 600 grower members.

Golden Gem Expands Retail Business (E)

After its initial entry into the gift fruit business last

year, Golden Gem, Umatilla, FL, has expanded its

retail business already operating at its primary pack38
August 1989

Ocean Spray Plans Nevada Plant (E)

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Lakeville-Middleboro,

MA, has agreed to purchase 40 acres of land in Gibson

Business Park in Henderson, NV, for a cranberry and

citrus product packaging facility. The Henderson facility is expected to provide modern manufacturing capabilities and enable Ocean Spray to expand its distribution to easily service the needs and demands of the

growing Southwest market.

Dairymen Buys Krafi Cheese Plant (E)

Dairymen, Inc., of Louisville, KY, has purchased a natural cheese manufacturing plant at Greeneville, TN,

owned by Kraft USA. Dairymen will continue the

operation, retain employees, sell the production to

Kraft, and continue purchasing from farmers who had

been supplying Kraft.

LOL Sells Turkey Processing Plant (C)

The sale of a turkey processing plant at Albert Lea,

MN, to Hudson Foods, Inc., Rogers, AR, nearly completes the exit from the meat business by Land

O’Lakes, Inc. (LOL), of Minneapolis, MN. The turkey

plant and Sweigert luncheon meat line were sold in

June for about $10 million. Sales at the Albert Lea

plant last year were about $60 million. A plant at Thief

River Falls, MN, was sold earlier to a grower organization. When a third plant at Ellsworth, IA, is sold, it will

complete LOL’s departure from the turkey business.

Harvest States Forms Milling Partnership (V)

A new milling partnership has been formed between

Harvest States Cooperatives of St. Paul, MN, and

Miller Milling, of Minneapolis, MN. It will combine

Miller’s operation with Harvest States’ Amber Milling,

a durum milling operation. The new venture will be

based at Harvest States’ offices at St. Paul. The new

venture will combine Miller’s plant and distribution

location at Huron, OH, on Lake Erie with Amber’s

facility at Rush City, MN, and a planned facility at

Hammond, IN.

July 1989

Cherry Cooperative Joins Traders (V)

Cherry Central Cooperative, Inc., Traverse City, MI,

and several other firms processing Michigan cherries

have formed CherrX and obtained an export trade certificate of review from the Department of Commerce.

The companies will be able to jointly export processed

cherries and cherry products under the limited

antitrust exemption granted by the Export Trading

Company Act of 1982.

SD Wheat Growers Buy Oil Bulk Plants (E)

South Dakota Wheat Growers Association, Aberdeen,

has purchased seven retail bulk oil plants from Harms

Oil Company. The purchase gives the Wheat Growers

additional retail outlets in Frederick, Hecla,

Claremont, Mitchell, and Aberdeen plus access to

Harms’ transportation fleet for delivering fuel to the

association’s other bulk plants.

Nebraska Firm Purchases Co-op (C)

Foxley Grain Company has purchased the Osmond

Cooperative terminal elevator in Fremont, NE. The 2-

million-plus-bushel elevator is equipped to receive

both rail and truck grain and is located on the Chicago

& North Western and Union Pacific Railroads. Foxley

also operates two other elevators and is a subsidiary of

Foxley Cattle Company. It operates the largest covered

cattle feedlot in the United States.

Fruit Cooperatives Form Partnership (V)

Michigan Blueberry Growers Association and Cherry

Growers, Inc. have formed a partnership called

Decatur Fruit Company. The partnership has purchased the assets of Huron Farms Food Products in

Decatur, MI, from Rich Foods Products Corporation of

Buffalo, NY. A substantial supply contract for blueberries, apples, strawberries, cherries, and rhubarb has

been negotiated with Rich Foods.

Ocean Spray Opens Cranberry

Research Center (E)

Ocean Spray Cranberries has opened an Agricultural

Research Center at its new headquarters site in

Lakeville-Middleboro, MA. The center contains essential components of a modern agricultural experiment

station on a reduced scale. The result is a flexible,

problem-solving research environment seeking solutions to problems facing today’s cranberry industry.

The research center combines a 5,0000-square-foot

main building, a 1,500-square-foot workshop area, and

two 20- and 30-foot glass greenhouses. Housed in the

main building are offices, three laboratories, a computer room, a growth-chamber room and two walk-in,

environment-controlled research rooms.

39
May 1989

Agri-Mark Starts Food, Supply Service (E)

Eastern Best Products, a subsidiary of Eastern Milk

Producers at Syracuse, NY, has begun providing members of Agri-Mark, Inc., (Lawrence, MA) , with new

service-quality food products and dairy farm supplies

at wholesale prices. The bulk food items, some of them

frozen, and supplies will be ordered by mail or phone

and delivered to one of many convenient locations

every 3 or 4 weeks by truck. Agri-Mark members gain

access to a product distribution system already being

used by cooperatives and the Grange in 12 Northeast

States.

CENEX Updates Laurel Refinery (R)

Construction has begun on $4 million in modifications

to the fluid catalytic cracking unit, or “cat cracker,” at

the CENEX refinery at Laurel, MT. The change will

make the cracking unit compatible with the heavier

crude oils being processed at the refinery. The

revamped portion of the cat cracker will be able to

process up to 16,000 barrels per day of raw materials,

compared with the current 12,000 barrels per day.

Wheat Growers Buy Fertilizer Outlet (E)

South Dakota Wheat Growers, at Aberdeen, has purchased the Oakes Fertilizer Service. Last year, the dealership handled 4,700 tons of dry, liquid, and anhydrous ammonia fertilizers and had a volume of

$500,000 in farm chemicals.

April 1989

Minnesota Livestock Co-ops Join (U)

Central Livestock Association, Inc., and Farmers

Union Marketing Association have agreed to combine

their marketing efforts at the South St. Paul Livestock

Market. The farmer-owned cooperatives in 1986 similarly combined efforts at the West Fargo (ND) stockyards. In 1988, the two cooperatives handled nearly 2

million head of livestock or 60 percent of the market’s

cattle, hogs, and sheep. Farmers Union will continue to

operate and manage Central Bi-products, its processing division at Redwood Falls, MN.

LOL’s Volga Plant Adds Mozzarella (R)

Cheese is being produced at Land O’Lakes (LOL) plant

at Volga, SD, thanks to a recently completed plant and

equipment renovation costing more than $1.5 million.

Cheddar production continues at the plant. More

automated equipment will be added this summer to

increase versatility and capacity. Mid-America

Dairymen will be a major marketer of the cheese produced by LOL at Volga under provisions of a joint venture between the two cooperatives.

Universal Forms import Department (R)

An import sales department has been formed at

Universal Cooperatives, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, to

position the cooperative in markets that are not totally

agriculturally dependent. The cooperative hopes to

build alliances with cooperatives in other countries

that have many long-term advantages for both

Universal and other offshore cooperatives. Current

imports are limited primarily to twine and bird feed.

The cooperative imports from Brazil, Mexico, Portugal,

Tanzania, Canada, Haiti, and India.

March 1989

Olive Co-op Returns To Oil Business (R)

Oberti Olive Cooperative, Madiera, CA, has started

production of olive oil from a new extraction plant.

The cooperative’s old plant at Oroville was forced to

close due to hexane pollution. Cooperative officials

estimate producers will net more than $10 per ton

higher than they’ve been getting for cull olives.

Pro-Fac/Curtice Burns Buy Food Firms (E)

Pro-Fat Cooperative Inc., and Curtice Burns Foods, a

subsidiary of Agway Inc., of Syracuse, NY, have

recently purchased four small to mid-size food companies: Quality Snacks of Maryland, a multimillion-dollar snack food distributor providing Snyder of Berlin

snacks to the Washington, DC, area; Lowrey Meat

Specialties, Inc., with $32 million in annual sales and

production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia, from

E-II Foods Specialties Company, Inc.; Hiland Potato

Chip Company of Des Moines, IA, with $22 million in

annual sales; and Southland Frozen Foods, Mitchell

Field, NY, with annual sales of $30 million, production

facilities in Hanover, PA, and Barker, NY, and a distribution center in Vineland, NJ.

Sea/d-Sweet To Relocate (R)

Seald-Sweet Growers, Inc., one of the nation’s larger

fresh-citrus marketing organizations, plans to relocate

its corporate offices to the east coast of Florida in

Indian River County. It has been in Tampa 80 years

and in its present location for 50 years. The cooperative wanted to consolidate its two sales offices and

position its corporate office within one of the major

growing areas of the State. As the city has grown and

40
citrus acreage declined in the area, the need to remain

in Tampa diminished. Cooperative leadership indicated that the consolidation will result in major operating

efficiencies and closer contact with member shippers

and customers. The industry is in a rebuilding stage

following several serious freezes. Exact date of the

move depends on the sale of Tampa corporate headquarters and the purchase and construction of a new

office.

February 1989

Agri-Mark Assumes Troy Operation (R)

Agri-Mark, Inc., Lawrence, MA, has assumed operation of its Troy, VT, cheese plant, part of which had

been leased to Kraft, Inc., for more than 40 years.

Kraft’s decision to end its operating responsibility at

the plant centered on the prospect of uncertain milk

supplies to the plant in the year ahead. Nevertheless,

Kraft has contracted to buy all cheese produced by

Agri-Mark at the plant. The change was expected to

give the cooperative greater flexibility to adapt to

changing market conditions and produce whatever

product is the most profitable for the membership.

January 1989

Universal, Behlen Venture Terminated (V)

Discussions leading toward a joint venture between

Universal Cooperatives, Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, and

Behlen Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, NE,

have been terminated. Universal indicated that both

companies mutually agreed not to consolidate. They

had previously signed a letter of intent to form a holding company to combine Universal’s livestock and

dairy equipment operations with Behlen’s manufacturing operations.

Rice/and Opens Rice Cake Operation (E)

Riceland Foods, Stuttgart, AR, has opened a rice cake

production facility at Jonesboro, AR, that adds 50 new

jobs to the area and continues the cooperative’s goal to

expand into value-added products. Riceland plans to

sell the rice cakes in the export market and has displayed them in Sweden.

Iowa Co-op in Venture With Campbell (V)

Crestland Co-op, at Creston, IA, has signed an agreement with Campbell Soup Company to operate a joint

boiler operation. Campbell will provide 1.5 million

birds per turn and the cooperative will finance 10

buildings on 10 farms and provide the feed. The cooperative expects each of the buildings will require 1,244

tons of pelleted feed annually from its mill.

Dairylea Consolidates With Hood (U)

Delegates of the 2,800-member Dairylea Cooperative

voted unanimously to sell the cooperative’s assets

(plants, equipment, and distribution business) to HI?

Hood Company, an Agway subsidiary, during the

annual meeting on Oct. 9 in Syracuse, NY. The sale

involves manufacturing plants in Oneida and Vernon,

a fluid bottling plant in Syracuse, a number of distribution depots, and a transportation facility with associated vehicles at Vernon, all in New York State. Dairylea

will join Agway as an owner of Hood after Dairylea

makes a substantial investment in Hood stock.

New Co-op Formed in Washington (V)

Harvest States Cooperatives of St. Paul, MN, and 11

eastern Washington grain marketing cooperatives have

formed a new cooperative to ship grain on the

Columbia and Snake River system. The new Central

Ferry Terminal Association has purchased the 1.5 million bushel grain terminal on the Snake River at

Central Ferry, WA, from Harvest States, the sole owner

since 1979. Association members are Cheney Grain

Growers, Inc., Fairfield Grain Growers, Inc., Lamont

Grain Growers, Inc., Lacrosse Grain Growers, Inc.,

Oakesdale Grain Growers, Inc., Ralouse Grain

Growers, Inc., Rockford Grain Growers, Inc., Rosalia

Producers, Inc., St. John Grain Growers, Inc., Wheat

Growers of Endicott, Whitman County Grain Growers,

Inc. of Colfax, and Harvest States. Each member will

have a vote in the operation of the terminal. It has two

500,000-bushel steel storage tanks and eight concrete

silos that can hold a total of 480,000 bushels.

Florida Tomato Growers

Exchange Proposed (E)

The board of directors of the Florida Tomato Exchange

has voted to form a grower-member exchange that

would have legal authority to establish marketing

practices including setting minimum prices, and customer payment policies. The exchange would be voluntary, with tight, legally enforceable rules applicable

only to members. Minimum Florida tomato prices

could be established by the end of the 1989-90 marketing year. A separate organization with grower-members is required because the current exchange members are first-handlers of tomatoes.

41
Golden Gem Buys Packer (E)

Golden Gem Growers, Umatilla, FL, had acquired the

former Lake Garfield Citrus Cooperative facility. This

branch house will supplement the packing and bagging capacity needed for Golden Gem’s current and

future fresh fruit varieties.

Jackson, Spokane Join NBC (U)

The addition of the Jackson and Spokane Banks for

Cooperatives (BCs) gives the new National Bank for

Cooperatives (NBC) a base of about 2,400 stockholders, $11.3 billion in assets, and $8.8 billion in loans outstanding, based on June 30,1988 figures. Stockholders

in the Jackson and Spokane districts approved the

merger with NBC and stockholders in the eight other

districts, both by number and equity, and the Central

Bank also approved it for cooperatives in Denver.

Ocean Spray Moves (R)

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., has moved from multiple locations in Plymouth, MA, to its new office building west of there on the Lakeville-Middleboro town

line.

Farmland, LOL, CENEX Talks Continue (U)

Annual savings of $30 million to $40 million may be

possible by combining operations of Farmland

Industries, Inc., Land O’Lakes, Inc., and CENEX, Inc.,

a financial study by Touche Ross & Company concluded in a Dec. 13 report to the three cooperatives. Most

savings would come from combined petroleum and

agronomy areas and reduced overhead expenses.

Although the talks have not moved according to the

original schedule, a spokesman said matters are being

resolved and talks are continuing. The next combined

session of chief executive officers and boards of directors of the three cooperatives was scheduled for early

January. The new business entity would become the

largest agricultural cooperative in the Nation with

sales of $6 billion.

Catalog Index

From Various News Sources . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . .6

July 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

MLE Marketing Co-op To Close

Markets (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...6

AgriBioTech and FFR Cooperative

To Form Alliance (A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Agrilink Foods To Acquire Dean’s

Vegetable Business (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . .6

DeKalb Agra To Dissolve (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Agrilink Foods Acquires Hopay

Distributing (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

CENEX Harvest States To Build New

Soybean Facility (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Farmland and Farmers Petroleum

Propose Merger (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

SSC To Acquire Gold Kist Farm

Supply Assets (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

GROWMARK Buys Seed Plant (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

June 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Foremost Farms To Close Golden

Guernsey Dairy (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Grain Firms Pursuing Joint Venture (V) . . . . . . . .7

Dakota Growers To Build New

Milling Unit (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Countrymark Co-op, Land O’Lakes

Discuss Unification (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Grain Cooperatives Invest In

Flour Mill (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Land O’Lakes, Dairyman’s Plan Major

Cheese Whey Plant (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

May 1998 ..................................... 7

Land 0’ Lakes, Dairyman’s Merger

Plan Approved (U) ......................... .7

Farmland Venture With ConAgra (v) ......... .8

Ag Processing Plans Cooperation (V) ......... .8

Countrymark, LOL Announce Joint

Venture Discussions (VI ..................... .8

Farmland To Buy SF Services (U) ..............8

April 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Pro-Fat Buying Business (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Proposed Merger of Land O’Lakes and

Dairyman’s Co-op Creamery (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

DFA To Close Plant (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Premier Roasters Acquires Tri Valley Unit (Cl . . .8

42
March 1998 ................................... 8

Mid-Oklahoma Co-op Formed (U) .............8

February 1998 ................................. 9

Dairy Farmers of America Form Joint

Venture With NZDB Subsidiary (V) ............9

From Rural Cooperatives Magazine ......... .9

March/April 1998 .............................. 9

Ocean Spray and Pepsi Extend Distribution

Agreement (A) ............................. .9

Dakota Growers Details Primo Piatto

Purchase (E) ............................... .9

CENEX, Harvest States Members

Approve Unification (U) .................... .9

January/February 1998 .......................... 9

Farmers Form Co-op To Buy Bean Plant (V) .... .9

LOL, Harvest States in Feed Venture (V) ....... .9

LOL Feed Agreement (A) .................. .lO

November/December 1997 .................... .lO

Beef Co-op Buys Into Farmland (V) .......... .lO

Agrilink Foods To Buy DelAgra (E) .......... .lO

LOL to Merchandise Millfeeds (A) ........... .lO

Michigan Livestock, Southern

States Eye Merger (U) ...................... .lO

CENEX, Harvest States Merger

Goes to Membership (U) ................... .lO

September/October 1997 ...................... .lO

Dairy Farmers of America Formed (U) ....... .lO

Swiss Valley Buys Wisconsin Facilities (E) .... .lO

Cooperatives Form Tire Company (V) ........ .lO

Heartland Co-op Sold to Competitor (C) ...... .lO

July/August 1997 ............................. 11

Beef Producers Buy Half of

Farmland Packer (V) ....................... .11

MMI, Alfa Lava1 in Pact (A) ................ .11

MMI, Independent Cooperative Supply

Agreement (A) ........................... ..11

May/June 1997 ................................ 11

Kentucky Livestock Exchange Expands (E) .... .11

California Pear Growers Scale Back (Cl ....... .11

March/April 1997 ............................. 11

Farmland Signs Sulfur Processing Pact (A) .... .ll

RGA Eyes Biotech Venture (V) ................. .11

Tri Valley Revamps Transportation Center (R) . .11

Dairylea, DHIA Combining Operations (U) . . . .12

Atlantic, Land O’Lakes Merge (U) . . . . . . . . . . . .12

November/December 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ll

Harvest States Expands Milling Activities (E) . .12

Iowa REC’s Form Service Company (V) . . . . . . .12

September/October 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Regionals Buy Mexican Feed Company

Mid-Am Expands Cheese Plant (E) . . .

Dakota Soybean Processors Open Plant

Wilsey, Holsum Complete Venture (V)

July/August 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Equity Livestock Acquires Midwest

in Wisconsin (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

....... .12

(V) ... .12

........12

(E) ... .12

........12

....... .12

........12

AGP Okays Emmetsburg Soybean Plant (E) . . . .12

Empire Livestock Consolidates

Operations (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

LOL Opens Grain Flaking Facility (E) . . . . . . . . .13

Farmland System Opens 100th

AMPRIDE (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...13

Kansas Co-ops Invest in Westland

Terminal (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Mid-Am Sells Plant to Venture Partners (V) . . . .13

May/June 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

WDCI, Schreiber Form Alliance (A) . . . . . . . . . . .13

WDCI, Fort Collins Milk Producers

Unify (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Countrymark Forms New Crop,

Grain Group (R) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Ocean Spray To Sell Florida

Packinghouse (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Eastern Co-ops (Agway, SSC) in

Feed Venture (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Harvest States’ Texas Mill Ahead

of Schedule (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Joint Mill Dedicated in Kansas (E) . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Farmland in Joint Venture (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Pacific Coast Producers Subsidiary

Makes Purchase (El . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Gold Kist Expands Aquaculture Center (E) . . . .14

Gold Kist Purchases Cotton Company (E) . . . . .14

Farmland, Michigan Livestock in Pact (A) . . . . .14

TFC Buys River Terminal for Fertilizer (E) . . . . .14

March/April 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Farmland Venture Plans Trinidad

Ammonia Plant (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

CF Plans Nitrogen Units at Donaldsville (E) . . . .14

LOL Forms Partnership in Taiwan (V) . . . . . . . . .14

43
Livestock Breeding Cooperatives (Atlantic

Breeders, Eastern AI, LABC) Merge (U) ...... .15

AGP, Protinal in Joint Venture (V) ............15

Farmers Food Expands Frozen Line (V) ...... .15

Tri Valley To Consolidate Operations (Cl ..... .15

Naturipe Acquires Florida Berries (U) ........ .15

January/February 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Agway Sells HP. Hood (Cl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Columbia River Sugar in Pact with Holly (V) . . .15

December 1995 ............................... 15

Farmland Adds Grain Export Outlet (El ...... .15

Co-op Plans Cottonseed Processing Plant (El .. .15

Cabot Offers Sun-dried Tomato Basil

Cheddar (El ............................. ..15

Mid-Am Sells Flav-O-Rich (Cl ...............15

Nebraska Ethanol Plant Opens (V) ............16

November 1995 ............................... 16

LOL, AGP Shelve Merger Plan (U) ............16

Golden Gem Expands Juice Plant (El ......... .16

Pear Co-op Sells Storage Facility (Cl ......... .16

October 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..16

Foremost Farms To Buy Morning Glory (VI . . . .16

LOL, Ag Processing Inc. To Merge (U) . . . . . . . . .16

September 1995 ............................... 16

Washington Apple Co-ops Merge (U) ........ .16

SF Services, Farmland Launch

Joint Ventures (V) ......................... .16

PLA Purchases Creston Livestock (U) ........ .16

Joint Venture (Farmers Co-op, Farmland) To

Operate Grain Terminal (V) ................. .16

GROWMARK Builds New Mill (El .......... .16

August 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

AMPI, Morning Glory, Foremost Farms

Study Merger (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

TFC Buys River Terminal (El . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

AI Co-ops (21st Century, Noba, Atlantic

Breeders, Eastern AI, LABC) To Market

Jointly (Al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

July 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..17

California Dairy Co-ops (California Milk,

Dairymen’s Coop Creamery, Danish

Creamery) Launch Joint Venture (Vl . . . . . . . . . .17

June 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

New Joint Venture for Blueberry Co-op (V) . . . .17

Mid-Am To Close Kentucky Plant (Cl ........ .17

Riceland Buys Elevators (El ................. .17

May 1995 .................................... 17

MM1 and Eastern Approve Merger (Ul ....... .17

Dairylea Acquires Empire Livestock (U) ...... .17

Sun-Diamond To Buy Dole Fruit Unit (El ..... .17

Blue Diamond Growers To Spend $30

million on Plant (R) ....................... .18

Harvest States in New Joint Venture (V) ...... .18

Gold Kist To Invest $10 Million

in Cotton Plant (El ........................ .18

New Name for Tri-State (Rl ..................18

Alto, Swiss Valley Pursuing

JointVenture (V) ......................... ..18

Plains Cotton To Expand Denim Plant (El ..... .18

PCCA and Gold Kist Reach Agreement (A) ... .18

April 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Eastern, MM1 Sign Merger Agreement (Ul . . . . .18

Sun Diamond To Purchase Pecan Plant (El . . . . .18

March 1995 .................................. 18

AMP1 South Buys Coleman Dairy (El ........ .18

AMP1 Merges Divisions (R) ................ .18

SMS Merges With Mid-Am (U) ...............18

AI Co-ops (Federated Genetics,

21st Century, Noba) To Market Jointly (A) .... .19

Del Monte/PCP Alliance Terminates (Cl ..... .19

February 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

MMI, Eastern in Merger Talks &.I) . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Coble Dairy To Merge With

Mid-America (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Canadian, U.S. Co-ops (UCO,

GROWMARK) Join Forces (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Minn-Dak Sugar Beet Plant To Expand (El . . . . .19

Farmland, Wilbur-Ellis in Joint Venture (V) . . . .19

Farmland Forms Limited Partnership (V) . . . . . .19

AGP To Build Ethanol Plant (El . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

January 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..19

CoBank, Springfield Banks To

Consolidate (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

TVG Exploring Potential Partnerships (U) . . . . .19

Iowa Ethanol Co-op To Build Plant (V) . . . . . . . .19

Holding Co. To Oversee AGP, ADM Feed

Operations (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

GROWMARK Eyes Canadian Co-op (U) . . . . . . .20

Riceland, ADM Form Processing

Partnership (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

44
December 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Pro-Fat Completes Acquisition of

Curtice Burns (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Harvest States To Build New Flour Mill (E) . . . .20

November 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Mid-Am, DI Merger Receives Justice

Approval (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...20

Curtice Burns To Merge with Pro-Fa (U) . . . . . . .20

Agway Expands Churchville Mill (E) . . . . . . . . .20

Ag Processing, ADM Form Feed

Company (VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...20

Ohio Co-ops Form SunMark Ltd. (V) . . . . . . . . .20

Outlook Prompts Illinois Co-ops (Bond

County, Fayette) To Merge (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

October 1994 ................................. 21

Seald-Sweet To Market Sweet Potatoes (V) .... .21

Dakota Co-op To Make Frozen Dough (El ..... .21

Pro-Fat Bids for Curtice Burns (U) ............21

Minn-Dak, Universal To Produce Yeast (V) .... .21

MM1 Purchases Cheese Plant (El .............21

AGP Creates New Subsidiary (E) .............21

New Addition for Prairie Farms (E) ...........21

Rice Bran Oil Plant Operating (V) ............21

September 1994 ............................... 21

Agri-Mark Continues To Acquire

Cheese Plants (E) ......................... .21

Dairylea Opens Southern Division Office (E) .. .21

Welch’s Buys BAMA Foods (E) .............. .21

Mississippi Chemical To Convert (R) ......... .22

Blue Anchor Moves Headquarters (R) ........ .22

AgraTech Acquires Midwest Seed

Company (E) ............................. .22

AMP1 To Close Madison Plant (C) ............22

AGP Unit Buys Canadian Firm (E) ............22

Harvest States Building Kenosha Mill (E) ..... .22

Farmland To Expand Refinery (E) ............22

August 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Mid-America and Dairymen, Inc.,

Pursue Merger (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , .22

Producers Livestock Buys Middendorf (E) . . . . .22

SD Wheat Growers Builds New

Warehouse (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Swiss Valley To Close Cheddar

Operation (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Farmland’s Tradigrain Eyes Global

Business (El . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Southern States Forms New Unit (R) . . . . . . . . . .23

Fox Valley DHI Cooperative Created (U) . . . . . .23

GROWMARK Buying Vigor0 Outlets (E) . . . . . .23

July 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Blueberry Juice Produced From Joint

Venture (VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...23

June 1994 .................................... 23

Gulf Dairy To Merge with Mid-America

Dairymen (U) ............................ .23

U.S., Dutch Cooperatives Join Forces (A) ..... .23

May 1994 .................................... 23

Three Cooperative Banks To Merge (U) ....... .23

April 1994 ................................... 24

Colorado Co-ops Join Forces (U) .............24

CENEX/Land O’Lakes Purchase

Vigor0 Units (E) .......................... .24

March 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Harvest States Division Buys Ohio Firm (E) . . . .24

Agri-Mark Eyes Kraft’s Middlebury Plant (El . .24

Snokist Expands Facilities (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

February 1994 ................................ 24

New Facility for Empire Livestock (El ........ .24

Farmland Buys Grain Trading Group (E) ..... .24

Land O’Lakes Says Aloha (El ............... .24

Ocean Spray Benefits From Agreement (A) ... .24

Prairie Farms Announces Merger (U) ........ .24

Humbolt Creamery Building Ice

Cream Plant (E) ........................... .25

January 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Curtice Burns Sells Divisions (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

North Central FS Acquires Iowa Facility (U) . . .25

AGRI Industries, Heartland in

Joint Venture (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Coble Dairy Sells Branches (C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Western Dairymen Sells Idaho Plant (C) . . . . . . .25

Producers Livestock Opens New

Indiana Branch (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

October 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Ag Processing Acquires Texas Refinery (E) . . . . .25

Dairy Co-ops (Western Dairymen,

Darigold) to Market Jointly (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Mid-Am Breaks Ground in New Mexico (El . . . .25

GROWMARK, Hubbard Milling

in Joint Venture (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Farmland Breaks Ground for

Wheat Facility (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

45
Dairylea Relocates Lab (R) ................. .27

Wenoka Announces Merger (U) ..............27

September 1993 ............................... 27

CoBank Opens Mexico Office (E) .............27

Co-ops and DowElanco in Joint Venture (V) ... .27

Mississippi Chemical Forms

New Subsidiary (E) ........................ .27

August 1993 .................................. 27

Riceland Enters Joint Venture with

Japanese (V) .............................. .27

Farmland Continues To Beef Up (V) ......... .27

June 1993 .................................... 27

Mid-Am Building Technical Center (El ....... .27

May 1993 ................................... .27

Agway Seeks To Sell Curtice Burns (Cl ....... .27

Tri Valley Growers To Acquire SACCO (E) .... .27

Mid-Am To Open Processing Plant in

New Mexico (E) ........................... .27

March 1993 .................................. 27

Mid-Am, California Co-op in Pact (A) ........ .27

Nationwide, SSC in Sponsorship Pact (A) ..... .27

January 1993 ................................. 27

Darigold, LOL in Feed Venture (V) .......... .27

LOL Expands Biotechnology Research (V) .... .27

Gregg’s Foods Joins Harvest States (E) ....... .27

December 1992 ............................... 27

Harvest States Forms Joint Venture (V) ....... .27

November 1992 ............................... 28

Farmers Grain Buys ADM Terminal (E) ....... .28

Prairie Farms Buys Indiana Firm (E) ......... .28

Cooperatives (Producers Livestock)

Agree on Hog Facility (A) .................. .28

October 1992 ................................. 28

Pasta Plant (Dakota Growers)

Construction Starts (El ..................... .28

Agway Initiates Restructuring (R) ............28

Farmland Venture in SD Ethanol Plant (V) .... .28

September 1992 ............................... 28

Midwest Co-ops Sold at Auction (U) ......... .28

CENEX Buys Farmland’s Share of NCRA (V) . .28

August 1992 .................................. 28

46

West Central Opens Soybean Plant (E) ....... .28

Coulee Co-op To Market Organic

Nonfat Yogurt (V) ......................... .29

Mergers Create New Co-ops

(Prairieland, Midland) (U) .................. .29

ADM/GROWMARK Buys River

Terminal (E) .............................. .29

May 1992 .................................... 29

Farmland Upgrades Coffeyville

Refinery (R) .............................. .29

Tri Valley Closing Tomato Plant (Cl .......... .29

MFA Oil in New Home (R) ..................29

DCA Merges with Darigold (U) ..............29

MFA, Hubbard in Joint Venture (V) .......... .29

Mid-America Dairymen, A-G

Co-op Consolidate (U) ..................... .29

Gold Kist Buys Poultry, Supply Outlets (E) .... .29

Wheat Grower Ethanol Plant Progressing (V) . .30

March 1992 .................................. 30

Minnesota Beet Sugar Co-op Expands (E) ..... .30

Farmland, 13 Locals in Feed Venture (V) ...... .30

Central Livestock Adds Albany (E) .......... .30

CENEX Co-ops in SD Merge (U) ..............30

Illinois Co-ops Merge (U) .................. .30

Three FS Cooperatives Unify (U) .............30

LOL Closing Two Fat/Whey Plants (C) ....... .30

AFC Builds Catfish Feed Mill (E) .............30

GTA Buys Feed Company (El ................30

Co-op Grain Broker (FCC) Opens

Ohio Office (E) ........................... .30

February 1992 ................................ 31

Southern States Expands Operations (E) ...... .31

Riceland Co-ops Acquired (U) ...............31

January 1992 ................................. 31

Cooperative (UCF) Opens Mill in Maine (E) ... .31

Wisconsin Dairy Co-ops (Tri-State Milk,

Chaseburg Coop Creamery) Merge (U) ....... .31

Fruita Buys United Fruit Growers (U) ........ .31

December 1991 ............................... 31

Seald-Sweet in New Headquarters (R) ....... .31

MBG Adds Arkansas Growers (A) ............31

Universal Sells Paint Plant (C) ...............31

Tillamook Renovates Cheese Plant (R) ....... .31

American Crystal To Expand (E) .............32

Co-op Joins SD Wheat Growers (U) .......... .32

September 1991 ............................... 32
Farmland Buys Propane Wholesaler (E) ...... .32

Co-ops (Swiss Valley, Alto) Form

Fluid Milk Pact (A) ........................ .32

California Tomato Growers

Association Moves (R) ..................... .32

August 1991 .................................. 32

CENEX Transfers Ethanol Plant

Ownership To ADM (C) .................... .32

June 1991 .................................... 32

Gold Kist Expands Florida Poultry Plant (E) .. .32

Gold Kist Buys Alabama Fertilizer

Supplier (E) .............................. .32

WDCI Sells Fluid Business To Dean (C) ....... .32

FCC Forms Truck Grain Subsidiary (E) ....... .32

AGP Buys Oil Company (E) ................ .33

Valley Fig Growers Add $1.4 Million

Facility (E) ............................... .33

Farmland Opens Cogeneration Plant (E) ...... .33

Farmland Buys Pork Processor (E) ............33

April 1991 ................................... 33

Tri Valley To Build Third Can Plant (E) ....... .33

March 1991 .................................. 33

SSC Adds Catfish Feed (E) ................. .33

Gold Kist To Buy Campbell Soup

Broiler Unit (E) ........................... .33

February 1991 ................................ 33

Farmland Plans Broadcast Service (V) ........ .33

January 1991 ................................. 34

Wheat Growers Rebound, Expand (E) ........ .34

November 1990 ............................... 34

GROWMARK Member Co-ops Form

Prairie FS Fuels (V) ........................ .34

Three Illinois Cooperatives Born (U) ......... .34

Greenwood Co-op Joins LOL (U) .............34

October 1990 ................................. 34

Sunsweet Prepares Eastern Operation (E) ..... .34

Illinois Co-ops Form Gateway FS (U) ........ .34

September 1990 ............................... 34

Agway Combines Feed, Crops Divisions (R) .. .34

Golden Poultry Expands (E) ................ .35

Southern Farmers Mill Renovated (R) ........ .35

Farmland Unveils New Identity (R) .......... .35

Farmland To Build Hog Facility (E) .......... .35

August 1990 .................................. 35

Sunrise Cooperative Created (U) .............35

CENEX/LOL Start Swine Program (V) ....... .35

Farmland Garden Centers Growing (E) ....... .35

Tri Valley Growers Buys Cannery (E) ......... .35

Dairylea Plans New Headquarters (R) ........ .35

Ag Processing Expands (E) ................. .35

July 1990 ................................... .36

Dairymen, Inc., Begins Third Decade,

Streamlines Operations (R) ................. .36

April 1990 ................................... 36

RGA Enters Limited Partnership (V) ......... .36

Welch’s Completes U.S. Grape Purchase (U) .. .36

March 1990 .................................. 36

Calavo Institutes Strategic Changes (R) ....... .36

Merger Forms Frontier Cooperative (U) ...... .36

February 1990 ................................ 36

Welch’s Buys U.S. Grape Operations (E) ...... .36

Lake to Lake Expands Cheese Capacity (E) ... .36

Agri-Mark, Cabot Explore Ventures (V) ...... .36

January 1990 ................................. 37

SSC, Locals Form Finance Unit (R) ............37

Tri Valley Buys New Jersey Processor (E) ..... .37

Riceland Building Research Center (E) ....... .37

November 1989 ............................... 37

Countrymark Opens Lima Feed Mill (R) ...... .37

RGA Plans To Restructure (C) ............... .37

October 1989 ................................. 37

Universal Completes Dairy

Equipment Sale (C) ........................ .37

Mid-States Leases Aetna Grain Terminal (E) ... .37

Sun Pacific Joins Sunkist (U) ................ .37

Farmland Foods Buys California Plant (E) .... .37

Wisconsin Dairies Buys Conrath Plant (E) .... .38

Countrymark Links With

Communications Firm (V) .................. .38

Missouri Firm To Market Dairyman’s

Cooperative Creamery Cheese (A) ............38

Farmland Opens Research Unit (E) .......... .38

September 1989 ............................... 38

Brokerage Services Offered (E) ...............38

Golden Gem Expands Retail Business (E) ..... .38

Union Equity Closes Facilities (C) ............38

Farmland, FCC Form Energy Brokerage (V) ... .38

47
Pure Gold Bows Out (C) ................... .38

Vineland Cooperative Expanding (El ......... .38

August 1989 .................................. 39

Ocean Spray Plans Nevada Plant (E) ......... .39

Dairymen Buys Kraft Cheese Plant (E) ....... .39

LOL Sells Turkey Processing Plant (C) ........ .39

Harvest States Forms Milling

Partnership (VI ........................... .39

July 1989 .................................... 39

Cherry Cooperative Joins Traders (VI ........ .39

SD Wheat Growers Buy Oil Bulk Plants (E) ... .39

Nebraska Firm Purchases Co-op (C) ......... .39

Fruit Cooperatives Form Partnership (VI ..... .39

Ocean Spray Opens Cranberry

Research Center (EI ....................... .39

May 1989 .................................... 40

Agri-Mark Starts Food, Supply Service (E) .... .40

CENEX Updates Laurel Refinery (RI ........ .40

Wheat Growers Buy Fertilizer Outlet (El ...... .40

April 1989 ................................... 40

Minnesota Livestock Co-ops Join (U) ......... .40

LOL’s Volga Plant Adds Mozzarella (RI ...... .40

Universal Forms Import Department (RI ..... .40

March 1989 .................................. 40

Olive Co-op Returns To Oil Business (RI ...... .40

Pro-Fac/Curtice Burns Buy Food Firms (E) ... .40

Seald-Sweet To Relocate (RI ................ .40

February 1989 ................................ 41

Agri-Mark Assumes Troy Operation (RI ...... .41

January 1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Universal, Behlen Venture Terminated (VI . . . . .41

Riceland Opens Rice Cake Operation (El . . . . . .41

Iowa Co-op in Venture With Campbell (VI . . . . .41

Dairylea Consolidates With Hood (U) . . . . . . . . .41

New Co-op Formed in Washington (VI . . . . . . . .41

Florida Tomato Growers Exchange

Proposed (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...41

Golden Gem Buys Packer (E) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Jackson, Spokane Join NB35 (U) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Ocean Spray Moves (RI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Farmland, LOL, CENEX Talks Continue (U) . . . .42

REFERENCES

PR Newsletter Association, Inc., various news reportings, 1998.

Business Wire, Inc., various news reportings, 1998.

Various newspaper reportings, i.e., The Indianapolis

Star (IN), The Star Tribune (MN), The Kansas City

Star (MO), Grand Forks Herald (ND), The Bismark

Tribune (ND), The Pantagraph (IL), The Sunday

Oklahoman (OK), The Daily Oklahoman (OK), The

Omaha World Herald (NE), The Arkansas Democrat

(AR), The Fresno Bee (CA), The Des Moines Register

(IA).

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer Cooperatives,

Agricultural Cooperative Service, Washington,

D.C., Vol. 55, No. 10, January 1989- Vol. 61. No. 1

April 1994.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer Cooperatives,

Cooperative Services, Rural Department

Administration, Cooperative Services,

Washington, DC., Vol. 61, No. 2, May 1994-Vol.

61, No. 8, November 1994.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer Cooperatives,

Rural Business and Cooperative Development

Service, Cooperative Services, Washington, D.C.,

Vol. 61, No. 9, December 1994-Vol. 62, No. 6, September 1995.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer Cooperatives,

Rural Business and Cooperative Development

Service, Cooperative Services, Washington, D.C.,

Vol. 62, No. 7, October 1995-Vol. 62, No. 9,

December 1995

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Cooperatives,

Rural Business/ Cooperative Services,

Cooperative Services, Washington, D.C., Vol. 63,

No. 1, January/February 1996-Vol. 65, No. 2,

March/April 1998.

48
U.S. Department of Agriculture

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

Stop 3250

Washington, D.C. 20250-3250

Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) provides research,

management, and educational assistance to cooperatives to

strengthen the economic position of farmers and other rural

residents. It works directly with cooperative leaders and

Federal and State agencies to improve organization,

leadership, and operation of cooperatives and to give guidance

to further development.

The cooperative segment of RBS (1) helps farmers and other

rural residents develop cooperatives to obtain supplies and

services at lower cost and to get better prices for products they

sell; (2) advises rural residents on developing existing

resources through cooperative action to enhance rural living;

(3) helps cooperatives improve services and operating

efficiency; (4) informs members, directors, employees, and the

public on how cooperatives work and benefit their members

and their communities; and (5) encourages international

cooperative programs. RBS also publishes research and

educational materials and issues Rural Cooperatives magazine.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits

discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of

race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability,

political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family

status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for

communication of program information (braille, large print,

audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(2021 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

A.

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director,

Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and

Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or

call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal

opportunity provider and employer.