N E W S L I N E
FCA Chairman Marsha Martin dies
Marsha Pyle Martin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), died Jan. 9 in Austin, Texas. Martin, appointed to a six-year term by President Clinton in 1994, was the first woman to serve as chairman in the 65-year history of the FCA, an independent federal agency responsible for regulation and examination of the Farm Credit System - a network of farmer-owned cooperative financial institutions. Martin was also the first woman senior executive in the Farm Credit System, serving as vicepresident of the Farm Credit Bank of Texas, and the first woman to serve as director of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation.
"We are surprised and saddened by the loss of our colleague, who was such a vibrant force," said FCA board member Mike Reyna. "America's farmers and ranchers and the entire Farm Credit System lost someone who has worked tirelessly for them, and for all of agriculture."
A lifelong advocate for farmers, ranchers and rural America, Martin spent more than 3 0 years working in agriculture and agricultural finance. In her role as FCA chairman, Martin fostered efficient and competitive credit markets for borrowers. She is credited for inspiring the FCA board to develop a strategic vision to ensure the long term viability of the system and keep pace with the rapidly changing financial services industry.
Among the honors awarded to Martin during her career was the Klinefelter Award in 1990 from the Cooperative Communicators Association, honoring her for her work to promote improved cooperative communications programs.
Martin is survived her husband, two children and two grandchildren.
DFA, Dairyworld discuss joint venture
Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, Mo., and British Columbia-based Dairyworld Foods at the end of November signed an agreement to develop the first-ever collaborative business effort between Canadian and U.S. dairy producers. The proposed agreement will lead to the joint marketing of specialty dairy ingredients from DFA!s limited liability company, Main Street Ingredients, LaCrosse, Wis., and Dairyworld's joint venture partner, Pascobel Inc. of Quebec. Dairyworld Foods has 1,750 Canadian farmer-members and processes fluid milk, cheese and other dairy products. DFA has 2 5,000 U.S. farmermembers and manufactures and markets a complete line of dairy products as well as supplying fluid milk to processors across the nation.
Land O'Lakes, Mitsui building largest cheese plant
Land O'Lakes (LOL), Arden Hills, Minn., and Mitsui, Japan's largest trading company, have formed a joint venture to build a new cheese plant in Tulare, Calif When fully operational, the plant will be capable of processing up to six million pounds of milk a day into bulk cheddar and mozzarella cheese. The initial structure of the joint venture will be a limited liability company with LOL holding a 70-percent share and Mitsui a 30-percent share. The two organizations anticipate additional partners will join in the venture. This will be L0L's third California plant. Its two others include a multiproduct plant in Tulare and a cheese plant in Orland.
CoBank stockholders elect directors
Stockholders of CoBank, Denver, Colo., elected Wayne Seaman, Ralston, Iowa, and Ronald Schuler, Gold River, Calif. to the board of directors. Seaman is the former chief executive officer of West Central Cooperative and serves as a director with Home State Bank and the Iowa Ag Finance Board. Schuler is president and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association. He also serves on the board of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Ag Network of California, the National Bargaining Committee and the California Agriculture Bargaining Advisory Committee.
Meanwhile, five people were reelected to the board. They include Donald Benschneider, a Payne, Ohio, grain farmer; Stephen Caruso, CEO of Citrus World, Inc., Lake Wales, Fla.; John Stanley Dean Sr., president and CEO of Amicalola Electric Membership Corp., Jasper, Ga.; Gordon Lamb, an Oakfield, N.Y., dairy producer; and Otis Molz, a Deerfield, Kan., rancher. CoBank, with $22 billion in assets on June 30, 1999, is part of the $84 billion Farm Credit System. It provides financial services to approximately 2,600 agricultural cooperatives, rural utility systems, Farm Credit associations and other businesses serving rural America.
UW-Madison honors Truman Torgerson
The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Cooperatives Library was dedicated during a ceremony in October as the Truman Torgerson Cooperative Collection. Torgerson, who died in 1996, was a nationally recognized cooperative leader and a pioneer in the dairy industry. He is credited with organizing the Lake-to-Lake Dairy Cooperative, where he served from 1947 to 1982 as general manager. The cooperative's Keil, Wis., cheese plant was the first in the nation permitted to apply the U.S. "AA" designation on its cheddar cheese, and the Lake-to-Lake brand is still recognized nationally.
Among the many honors bestowed upon Torgerson during his life was the Honorary Recognition Award from the UW-Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences for his contributions to the dairy processing and marketing fields, and the "Food Industry Man of the Year" award during the 1969 World Dairy Expo in Madison for helping to improve and promote dairy cooperatives. The National Milk Producers Federation, Wisconsin Farm Bureau, World Food and Agriculture Organization and Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association also bestowed their top honors on him. A UW graduate in 193 9 and an NCAA light-heavyweight boxing champion, Torgerson began his career as an ag education teacher in Rusk County, Wis., then became ag extension agent before being named CEO and general manager of Lake-to-Lake in Manitowoc, Wis. The Cooperative Collection, which recently became part of the Taylor Hibbard Library in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, was made possible by a contribution from the Torgerson family.
Southern States discontinues member magazine
Southern States Cooperative, Richmond, Va., after more than 50 years, has discontinued publication of its "Cooperative Farming" member magazine. Instead, it has formed a partnership with "Progressive Farmer" ,magazine to publish special Southern States inserts within each issue. Southern States President and CEO Wayne Boutwell says the partnership will allow the cooperative to more quickly establish its identity with a vast audience of farmers and more active farmers in its 17-state territory.
Co-ops form Soybean Research Company
Land O'Lakes, FFR Cooperative and Limagrain Genetics formed SOYGENETICS, LLC, a new soybean research company dedicated to the development of elite soybean varieties. It is headquartered in Lebanon, Ind., with Stephen J. Baluch as chief executive officer. Research stations will operate at Lebanon; Chatham, Ontario; Fort Dodge, Iowa; Mount Vernon, Ill.; and Jackson, Tenn. Existing soybean research programs from each of the owners serve as the foundation for the new company, the third largest soybean research company in North America. New products will be available to each participant on an equal basis. Any opportunities to offer products into the seed trade are being evaluated and a strategy will be announced later, the organizers report.
Land O'Lakes, Arden Hills, Minn., a food and agricultural cooperative, has sales in all 50 states and more than 50 countries. FFR Cooperative, West Lafayette, Ind., is an inter-regional cooperative that includes Southern States Cooperative, Richmond, Va.; Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, LaVergne, Tenn.; Growmark, Inc., Bloomington, Ill.; and Land O'Lakes. Limagrain, Peoria, Ill., is the U.S.based subsidiary of Groupe Limagrain, a global seed supplier based in Chappes, France, and owned by 600 French farmers. It is the leader of the European seed industry and ranks fourth in the world for seed sales.
Missouri dedicates power plant
Missouri electric cooperatives dedicated their new St. Francis Power Plant near Poplar Bluff this past fall. The plant is the result of a partnership between Associated Electric Cooperative and Duke Energy, a North Carolina-based company that sells electricity and natural gas. A third partner, Siemens-Westinghouse, built and operates the plant. The plant is needed because of a tight power supply situation for existing and potential customers, said Jim Jura of Associated, which has a sister plant to the St. Francis project under construction in Oklahoma. O.B. Clark, president of the Associated board, said the co-op is committed to meeting members' future needs. "We are taking a huge step forward. We have $800 million committed to new projects," Clark explained.
GEN-SYS, Engage sign agreement
GEN-SYS Energy and Engage Energy US, LP, signed a co-marketing agreement to coordinate efforts for the wholesale purchase and sale of energy and energy-related products in the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool and Wisconsin Upper Michigan System area of the Midwest. GEN-SYS is a Minnesota cooperative corporation founded by Dairyland Power Cooperative, LaCrosse, Wis., and includes Corn Belt Power Cooperative, Humboldt, Iowa. Engage is a joint venture company of the Coastal Corp, Houston, Texas, and Westcoast Energy, Vancouver, British Columbia. "Given the developing wholesale electricity marketplace in Wisconsin and surrounding states, this relationship allows GEN-SYS to optimize its generation resources, while managing its exposure to the volatility of wholesale energy markets," said Chuck Sans Crainte, GEN-SYS president and chief executive officer. GEN-SYS' presence in the MAPP region, coupled with Engage's risk and credit management practices and the application of its national experience in electricity and gas trading, will bring additional options to customers in the MAPP and WUMS areas, San Crainte added.