Foremost restructures in face of declining Midwest supply – Newsline – Foremost Farms – Brief Article Patrick Duffey Caught in the midst of declining milk supply volumes in the Upper Midwest and drooping milk prices for dairy farmers, Foremost Farms, the dairy cooperative based at Baraboo, Wis., plans to restructure operations by closing five outlying […]
Category: Rural Cooperatives
Global 300 list reveals world’s largest cooperatives David S. Chesnick To demonstrate the importance of cooperatives in today’s global economy, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) initiated the Global 300 project–a listing of the world’s 300 largest cooperatives. ICA believes that cooperatives are not as visible in the global economy as are for-profit businesses. It was […]
Minnesota leads the nation in co-op business volume E. Eldon Eversull Even with lower prices in many agricultural sectors, net business volume for the nation’s farmer-owned cooperatives increased by almost 4 percent in 2001, to more than $103 billion. Leading the way once again was Minnesota with $9.9 billion in sales by farmer cooperatives (table […]
Nebraska North Star Neighbors direct market co-op’s meat – Newsline – Brief Article Patrick Duffey It took a neighborhood of frustrated family farms west of Fullerton, Neb., to find an answer to their collective desire to stay on the land despite depressed prices for their grain and livestock. They found the answer about four years […]
Dakota Pride, Canterra form Merridian Seeds venture – Newsline – has formed a joint venture with Canada’s Canterra Seeds – Brief Article Patrick Duffey Dakota Pride Cooperative of Bismark, N.D., has formed a joint venture with Canada’s Canterra Seeds. The new business, Merridian Seeds LLC, will serve 105 Dakota Pride and 160 Canterra seed growers. […]
Hard lessons: Tri-State Ethanol struggling to overcome difficult start Stephen Thompson Setting up an ethanol plant is no automatic path to prosperity. Just ask the investors in Tri-State Ethanol, a limited liability corporation (LLC) founded by a farmers cooperative. For the members of Tri-State Corn ProcessOrs Cooperative, founded in 1994 in Rosholt, S.D., an ethanol […]
Making good things: Cass-Clay Creamery expands product line; marketing horizon moves eastward Dan Campbell Growing up on a North Dakota grain and dairy farm, Keith Pagel was not a big fan of farmer cooperatives. He recalls the many times he would pull into his local co-op elevator to have his grain milled into feed, where–more […]
Illinois fund boosts co-ops – Newsline – State Farm Bureau – Brief Article Illinois has allocated $3 million in its fiscal 2002 agricultural budget for use by producers developing value-added cooperatives. The fund can pay for up to 75 percent of the cost of technical assistance, including feasibility studies. State Farm Bureau President Ron Warfield […]
USDA grants support home-grown fuels USDA Rural Development is helping to stimulate the rural economy by providing matching grants under its Value Added Producer Grant program (VAPG). Alternative energy projects–including farmer-owned ethanol and biodiesel plants–have been major beneficiaries, as the table on the following pages shows. The VAPG Program was authorized by the Agriculture Risk […]
Co-op issues in spotlight at USDA’s Ag outlook forum – Agricultural Outlook Forum 2002 – Brief Article Value-added marketing by cooperatives, world trade, bio-fuels and biotechnology issues will be among the featured topics at the 78th annual USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, Feb. 21 and 22. The forum will tackle some of the biggest issues facing […]