1999 Cooperative Hall of Fame inductees named
Owen Hallberg, John Earnest Johnson and Vaughn Sinclair will receive the cooperative sector's highest honor-induction into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. The Cooperative Hall of Fame recognizes those whose contributions to the cooperative form of enterprise have been "genuinely heroic."

On April 21, hundreds from across the country will honor these men in a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. They will join an elite group of men and women who have earned this prestigious award.

Hallberg was the former chief executive of the American Institute of Cooperation (AIC). His efforts there, and throughout his career, improved communications in the farm credit system, furthered cooperative education and training within cooperatives. He worked for the St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives, Dairlyland and Land O' Lakes before heading, AIC. Hallberg passed away in September, just prior to learning of his Hall of Fame honor.

Johnson is a credit union specialist with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. For more than 30 years, he has helped establish rural, community-based credit unions and insured their survival. He has set up innovative programs to help credit unions with a computer-training laboratory, youth credit unions and various training materials. Johnson recently traveled to South Africa to assist in the development of credit unions there.

Sinclair is the retired general manager of the Watonwan Farm Service Company. Under his leadership, it grew from a small, struggling co-op to one of the largest and most successful farm cooperatives in Minnesota. He has been instrumental in the success of the first Homestead Housing Cooperative, which serves senior citizens in St. James, Minn. Sinclair also helped launch the American Cooperative Enterprise in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Cooperative Hall of Fame was established in 1974 bythe National Cooperative Business Association and is housedin Washington, D.C.

California Gold to merge with DFA
Members of California Cooperative Creamery (Cal Gold), the nation's twelfth-largest milk marketing co-op, voted over-whelmingly in December to join Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). The merger creates what will become California's second-largest cooperative milk marketing organization.

Cal Gold's 330 members in California and Nevada produce 2.5 billion pounds of milk annually, about half of which is marketed as fluid. Based north of San Francisco in Petaluma, Cal Gold operates plants in Turlock, Hughson, Tulare and Petaluma. The plants' product line includes consumer-packaged Italian cheeses, bulk Cheddar, whey powder and condensed fluids.

As the country's largest milk marketer, DFA serves 22,000 dairy producers in 42 states.

Cenex Harvest States, Mitsui form joint venture
Cenex Harvest States and Japanese trading giant Mitsuiand Co. have agreed to form a grain sales joint venture. The new company, called United Harvest Corp., is located in Oregon and began operating in December. Cenex Harvest States and Mitsui each contributed $125,000 in start-up capital. The joint venture mainly will sell wheat with emphasis on exports to Asia. Annual sales at United Harvest are projected at $730 million. United Harvest's wheat exports could reach 20 percent of total U.S. wheat exports.

United Sugars names new president
Thomas M. McKenna is the new president of United Sugars Corporation, a marketing cooperative comprised of Mid-west sugar beet producers and U.S. Sugar of Clewiston, Fla. McKenna will replace Bob Atwood, who retired in November 1998. Previously, McKenna was chief executive officer of Moor-man Manufacturing in Quincy, Ill., a livestock feed manufacturer, soybean processor and vegetable oil refiner.

RGA, Applied Phytologics forming new company
Applied Phytologies Inc. (API), a biotechnology firm in Sacramento, Calif, and Rice Growers Association (RGA) are forming Ap-Rice, a new company that grows animal and human proteins in plants for medical, nutritional and industrial uses. API and RGA also are considering combining their two offices plus the new office for Ap-Rice into one location.

For RGA, the deal provides a welcome new marketing opportunity, although it will take several years before it develops into a significant business for the cooperative.

Almond co-op to limit membership
Blue Diamond Growers, the almond marketing cooperative based in Sacramento, Calif, will close its membership Jan. 3 1,1999. The move was based on marketing projections and the realization that almond plantings are increasing at a rapid rate throughout the state's Central Valley. The co-op is nearing an optimum level of production. Blue Diamond's goal is to keep processing plants operating at peak efficiency while still filling customer orders. Although Blue Diamond still has room to expand, the co-op would rather limit membership now thanplace restrictions on growers in the coming years.

Blue Diamond and its 1,200 owner-members account fornearly six of every 10 California almond growers. The co-op processes more than a third of California's crop. Almonds ranked No. 6 among California agricultural commodities in 1997, with a record value of $1.12 billion. The crop was second among the state's agricultural exports with a value of $818.3 million. Blue Diamond paid growers a record price for the 1997 crop, with an average of $2,800 per acre. Its 5-year average is $2,450 per acre.

Southern States boasts high sales volume
Southern States Cooperative Inc. reported one of its best sales-volume performances, $1.12 billion, for the year ended June 30, 1998, although the number was down from last year's record of $1.22 billion. The sales figures, along with the announcement of a $6.1 million patronage refund, were among the highlights at the cooperative's 75th annual stock-holder's meeting, held in Richmond, Va., in November.

Prune growers suffer 'disastrous' year
Mother Nature and market conditions combined in 1998 to deliver the worst catastrophe in California's prune history, officials at the Prune Bargaining Association (PBA) said in December.

"The latest statewide figures paint a disastrous picture," PBA general manager Greg Thompson reported. "Our crop was down 50 percent, we recorded the lowest yield in a quarter century, and the average offgrade was at its highest level in 30 years. Grower losses are huge and crop insurance is inadequate to help growers get back on their feet. There isn't a prune grower in the state who wasn't seriously injured in 1998."

El Nino's cool, wet spring was largely to blame for the catastrophe that reduced the total crop to 101,300 natural tons, compared to last year's production of 205,000 tons. Flooding and disease took their toll in crop yield and quality, permanently damaging orchards and causing the worst combination of low yield and high offgrade in history. In addition, prune growers soldtheir fruit in a market flooded with carryover inventories that deflated raw-product value.

The PBA was formed in 1968 as a grower-owned cooperative to improve the economy of the California prune industry, encourage the production of a quality product, and provide a forum for growers to exchange ideas about the industry.

Florida dairy co-ops merge
Florida Dairy Farmers Association and Tampa Independent Dairy Farmers Association have merged to form Southeast Milk Inc. The new cooperative, headquartered in Belle-view, Fla., is the only Florida-based dairy cooperative. Its 253 members have a combined annual milk volume of some 2.8 billion pounds, or about 90 percent of the milk produced in the state.

Farmland Industries to expand
Farmland Industries Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., plans to grow much larger to meet the demands of the market. The cooperative has told its members to expect more alliances and acquisitions in the next 18 months than were completed in the last 18 years. The plans to grow come after a tough year for farmland. Lower prices for farm products, including grain, hogs and beef, affected the cooperative. Sales for the year that ended Aug. 31, 1998, were $8.8 billion, compared with $9.1 billion in the previous year. Profits for the most recent year were $58.8 million, compared with $135.4 million in the previous year.

Ocean Spray trims jobs
Ocean Spray Cranberries has laid off 85 workers at its Middleboro, Mass., plant, its second job cut in just over a year. The cranberry growers' cooperative is moving work done at a Middleboro distribution center to Bordentown, N.J. In 1997, Ocean Spray shut down its juice-bottling operation in Middleboro, cutting about 150 jobs. The latest layoffs will leave 70 workers at its Middleboro factory, less than one-quarter of its work force of 321 people before the 1997 cuts. Ocean Spray has about 2,500 employees nationwide.

Seald-Sweet announces joint venture
Seald-Sweet Growers Inc., a citrus marketing cooperative based in Vero Beach, Fla., announced in December the formation of Seald-Sweet LLC, a new limited liability company that will import and market special produce commodities in North America. The LLC business structure provides the flexibility to work with a number of commercial entities and to raise capital for new ventures.

De Weide Blik, a Belgian holding company, and the 90-year-old Seald-Sweet Growers formed the new venture to facilitate the marketing of other fruits and vegetables in North Ameri-ca, and to expand citrus marketing opportunities in the summer months.

NICE Conference set for July in Utah
The 71st Annual National Institute on Cooperative Education (NICE) will be held July 26-29 at Snowbird, Utah. The NICE conference brings together cooperative leaders, members and supporters for presentations, discussions and inspiration.

Canadian agribusiness firm becomes official Agricore, the new Canadian multi-provincial co-op agribusiness created by the merger of two provincial cooperatives, Alberta Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators, became alegal entity Nov. 1, 1998.

Agricore will serve more than 70,000 producers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and northeastern British Columbia through a network of grain elevators and retail farm supply centers. It will be the largest marketer of crop protection and plant nutrition products in Canada and one of Canada's largest grain handling and marketing business. Agricore's operations will include ownership in three export terminals on Canada's West Coast and full ownership in an export terminalat Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Pro-Fac signs letter of intent to acquire Agripac
Pro-Fac, a fruit and vegetable processing and marketing cooperative in Rochester, N.Y, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Agrilink Foods Inc., recently announced that Pro-Fachas signed a letter of intent with Agripac Inc. of Salem, Ore., to acquire Agripac's business and assets. Agripac, which reported $180 million in sales for fiscal 1998, is a cooperative processor of frozen and canned vegetables in the Northwest. If this transaction is successfully completed, Agripac will operateas a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pro-Fac and will be administered by Agrilink management.

NCFC Council elects Estenson, Schriver to leadership posts
The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives' (NCFC) Council elected Noel Estenson, president and CEO of Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives, as its new chairman, and Don Schriver, executive vice president of Dairy Farmers of America, as vice chairman during NCFC's 70th annual meeting Jan.18-20 in San Antonio, Texas. Estenson takes over from Ron Schuler, president and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association, who had served as NCFC chairman since 1997. "I am looking forward to serving NCFC and its farmer members to help prepare them to meet the challenges facing farmer cooperatives in the 21st century," said Estenson. "It is important that NCFC remains ahead of the competition in every aspect of its business in order to accomplish this goal."

USDA Co-op Stock Purchase Program helps producers launch new ventures
As part of its mission to create new opportunity for rural America, USDA Rural Development is striving to stimulate the creation of new cooperatives that can help boost the rural economy in the 21st Century. USDA Rural Development supports the creation and expansion of cooperatives though a number of services, one of which is the Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program.

The B&I program works with the private sector to boost the nation's rural economy by supporting businesses that produce or preserve rural jobs. Borrowers first seek financing from a local lender in their area, and the lender in turn seeks a guarantee from USDA. This program was expanded by the 1996 Farm Bill to provide loans for producers seeking to join new cooperatives that produce value-added goods.

Eligible loan purposes include:

The cooperative entity must make a written request to their USDA Rural Development State Office for a determination of eligibility prior to the approval of any cooperative stock loans to individual producers. Applications for a Cooperative Stock Purchase Program loan is processed through an eligible lender (bank, savings and loan, farm credit system, etc.).

For more information contact your USDA Rural Development state office or any Rural Development field office. Or call the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) at (202) 720-7287. You may also visit our home page on the Internet:http://www.rurdev.usda.gov

Correction
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, who won the 1998 Cooperative Month Spirit Award, was incorrectly identified in the Sept-Oct. 1998 issue of Rural Cooperatives as the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and related agencies. She actually was the committee's ranking minority member during the 105th Congress.

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