Just as corporations have found that they can join forces to increase economies of scale and remain profitable, farmers are discovering the same thing. Farmers are also uncovering that they can enhance their bottom line by extracting value from their products at more than one point in the delivery chain. Farmers are adding value to their products. It started when poultry production companies like Tyson began vertically integrating their operation to receive profits at different points along the chain. The idea has spread to more segments of agriculture.
Farmers are innovative.
A group of producers in Northwest Missouri is in the planning stages for a soybean processing plant. It will give them another market to sell their soybeans. They will also profit as the soybeans are processed into soybean oil and soybean meal. Other success stories are out there. There's a Michigan soybean processing plant owned by farmers that makes and sells its own motor oil.