The primary purpose of ValAdCo is to add value to shareholder corn. Profits are distributed as value added payments in proportion to the bushels of corn delivered by the member to the pool. Renville County is in the heart of the corn, soybean, and sugar beet production area of southern Minnesota. The cost of transportation has influenced the competitive standing of farmers who raise crops on some of the most productive land in the country. The Mississippi River barge terminals and Twin Cities mills are a hundred miles away.
Railways are an expensive and often unreliable alternative.
These farmers pay close attention when there is talk of increasing the value of their corn and reducing the costs of transportation. The members of the cooperative are producers who view the organization as an investment that adds value to their corn in two ways. The cooperative farms use some of their corn as livestock feed, but the main impact is in increasing the availability of breeding stock for area hog producers. By helping to keep hog production in Renville County more viable, a much higher percentage of the corn raised there is used locally.