NEWS LINE

 Compiled by Patrick Duffey


Iowa Quality Beef
opens Tama plant
Iowa has a third beef processing plant in operation with the re-opening of a now modernized plant in Tama. The plant is owned by 900 producermembers of the Iowa Quality Beef Supply Cooperative (see May-June 2003 Rural Cooperatives for more on this co-op). The opening was delayed from the original target date by construction snags and the need to raise some additional funds. The $32 million project had been promoted by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. The plant will initially process 1,200 to 1,500 cattle daily.

Indiana’s Countrymark offers
metered biodiesel blending
The first metered soy biodieselblending system in the nation has been introduced at Countrymark Cooperative’s terminal at Jolietville near Indianapolis, Ind. The operation is considered a significant step in making the distribution process seamless. Most others use a splash blending system to get the required mix. Joe Jobe, executive director of the National Biodiesel Board, says “having biodiesel available at large regional distribution terminals would cut transportation cost for biodiesel and lower the end price for consumers.”

Countrymark sees this as the first step for its fuel distribution arm and plans to extend the service to its other terminals if it proves successful. Grants from the Indiana Soybean Board helped cover feasibility study costs and infrastructure improvements.

Videos, brochures promote
Co-op Month in October
Looking for an effective, entertaining way to show and tell all about cooperatives? National Cooperative Bank’s (NCB) award-winning “What is a Co-op? You’d be Surprised” brochure and video can do just that. Produced as a cooperative education project, the brochure and video illustrates the many benefits and remarkable diversity of today’s cooperatives.

Inside the brochure, a stylized map pops up to illustrate how cooperative endeavors are interwoven throughout American society. The accompanying text spotlights the principles that generally guide a co-op’s operation and outlines the business advantages of cooperative ventures.

The lively 20-minute video demonstrates how cooperatives across the country are part of everyday life in the 21st century. The video highlights child care, housing, credit union, agricultural, grocery and other cooperatives that help build a community.

Both brochure and video are available at no charge. To obtain copies, e-mail your request to marcom@ncb.coop.

Co-op Development Forum
slated for Minneapolis
The National Cooperative Business Association’s 9th Annual Cooperative Development Forum, to be held Nov. 5-7 in Minneapolis, will bring together cooperative development professionals to discuss the role of cooperatives in rural and urban economic development.

Keynote speakers Paul Hazen, president and CEO of NCBA, and Jean-Yves Lord, executive director of the Canadian Cooperative Association, will discuss cooperative development in their respective countries. Panel sessions will feature cooperatives that have established other new co-ops and steps to create a community culture for cooperative development.

In stakeholder sessions about housing co-ops, sustainable forestry cooperatives, value-added agricultural cooperatives, urban cooperative development and coffee cooperatives, participants will explore issues and strategies for cooperative development. A special pre-conference session addresses structural change and non-member capital strategies. Following the conference, participants can join tours of Minneapolis cooperatives.

A limited number of scholarships are also available. The conference hotel is the Crowne Plaza Northstar. For more conference information, contact Leta Mach (202) 638-6222; e-mail: lmach@ncba.coop. Or visit the conference Web site: http://www.ncba.coop/ whatnew.cfm#conf.

Minnesota law opens co-op
membership to new investors
Minnesota’s Cooperative Associations Act has been modified to combine portions of the state’s traditional cooperative law with portions of the limited liability statute to create a new business entity for cooperatives. The new law allows all forms of cooperatives in the state to take on investor-members, in addition to traditional patron members. Investors may not necessarily purchase from the cooperative but may join it to earn a profit on their investment and to provide capital funds for cooperative expansion. The measure was endorsed by the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives and was based on a similar legislation approved in Wyoming in 2002.

Michigan Sugar 4th co-op in
Midwest Agri-Commodities
Saginaw-based Michigan Sugar Co. has become the fourth cooperative member of Midwest Agri-Commodities, a marketing arm formed in 1979. Midwest globally markets more than 12.3 million tons of beet pulp, beet molasses and desugared beet molasses to the livestock, dairy and poultry industries. The addition of Michigan Sugar should push the marketing volume to 1.5 million tons.

Chuck Hufford, president of Midwest, called the arrangement a “winwin situation” for both the marketer and its cooperative members. “Domestically, Michigan Sugar provides us with important access to eastern United States customers and globally gives a transportation alternative to service European agri-product clients.”

Thomas Zimmer, Michigan Sugar’s chairman, said the organizations were “mutually compatible with common objectives and commitment to success in the agri-products marketplace.” Other owners are American Crystal Sugar Co., Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative and Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative.

Breeding to head
Kansas Co-op Council
Patrick Breeding, former vice chairman of the Kansas Cooperative Council, had been named the organization’s chairman following the resignation of Dave Andra, Danville Co-op, due to illness. Andra, a director since 1988, had been re-elected chairman at the annual meeting in March. The council is studying an alliance with Kansas Farmers Service Association to secure managerial, operational and secretarial services following the death of Joe Lieber, who had been the council’s executive officer.

Bailey to head Co-op
Development Foundation
The Cooperative Development Foundation in Washington, D.C., has a new executive director: Elizabeth Bailey, who served in the administrations of three former Wisconsin governors and was former director for development for the National Guard Association of the USA. She replaces Judy Ziewacz, who earlier this year became deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Court OKs ADM buying
MCP, spinoff venture
The disputed sale of Minnesota Corn Processors (MCP) in Marshall, Minn., to Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) of Decatur, Ill., has cleared its final hurdle with approval of the deal by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Despite objections from a group of law professors and economists, District Judge John Bates said the modified agreement met U. S. Justice Department objections and the sale was in the public interest. To ease market-concentration concerns, the pact requires MCP to dissolve its joint venture with Corn Products International to market corn syrup and highfructose corn syrup. The conditions had been met at the end of 2002. ADM had gained a strong share in the syrup and ethanol markets from purchasing MCP and its joint venture. ADM has been operating MCP since last September.

Calcot, Ocean Spray among
co-ops with new leaders
Marketing cooperatives operating in different geographical areas of the nation have made leadership changes. New leaders include: Bongards Creameries buys
LOL’s Perham operation
Bongards Creameries, with extensive experience in manufacturing natural and processed cheese in Minnesota, has purchased Land O’Lakes’ cheese manufacturing facility at Perham, Minn. LOL had earlier announced plans to close the plant. Roger Engleman, Bongards general manager, said he was excited about the opportunity to reopen the plant noted for its cheese and whey products and to retain jobs in the community. Bongards had $163 million in sales last year to the consumer, food service and industrial cheese and whey markets.

Bushel 42 Pasta closes
Lacking a partner, Bushel 42 Pasta at Crosby, N.D., which is owned by 227 durum wheat growers in North Dakota and eastern Montana, closed in late July and laid off 50 employees. Company officials said it would seek to sell or lease the plant. CEO Keith Olson said the cooperative would seek ways to get a return for the shareholders.

Agway energy firm
offers green power
Customers of Agway Energy Products in upstate New York will be offered the option of buying green power in the service territories of Niagara Mohawk and New York State Electric & Gas, where it already operates as an energy supplier. Agway has become a partner with Sterling Planet of Alphretta, Ga., one of the three green marketers participating in Niagara Mohawk’s renewable energy program. Agway will offer energy derived from wind, water and biomass to customers willing to pay 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in addition to regular electrical charges. Agway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last October but the energy division was not part of the filing.

LOL Farmland Feed eyes
ethanol co-products market
Land O’Lakes Farmland Feed LLC is working with corn and livestock producers and numerous marketing initiatives to enhance profitability through marketing and sale of ethanol co-products. Distillers dried grain with solubles and wet distillers grain have been recognized as practical and cost-efficient feed supplements for cattle, swine and poultry. The market has materialized in the past three years. Ethanol production is expected to increase dramatically over the next 5 to 10 years.

In another development, the feed firm is planning to build a new, 300-cow dairy research facility at its center near Gray Summit, Mo. “It will go a long way in ensuring that we sustain our leadership in research and development,” said Bob DeGregorio, president of the feed company. Construction should be completed by year’s end. It will replace an existing dairy research unit at Gray Summit plus facilities at Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Sun-Maid, Licente Join for
Canadian Juice Line
The Sun-Maid brand behind the popular California marketing cooperative’s raisins and dried fruit products will begin to appear on a Canadian firm’s new line of fruit juice drinks being introduced late this summer. A. Licente Inc., based in Rougemont, Quebec, is a Canadian leader in the production of pure fruit drinks. It has signed a licensing agreement with California’s Sun- Maid Growers to produce and market the new line under the cooperative’s brand in Canada. The firm is the main subsidiary of Licente Industries, Inc., which markets its products under a variety of trademarks, including Sunkist.

Riceland Foods, Cargill in
lecithin marketing alliance
A strategic alliance to manufacture, market and sell lecithin products to food, pharmaceutical and technical customers worldwide has been formed by Riceland Foods of Stuttgart, Ark., and Cargill, Minneapolis, Minn. The agreement was to take effect Sept. 1. Riceland will continue producing deoiled lecithin, as it has for the past 25 years, and Cargill will market and distribute it. Riceland President Richard Bell said the deal would allow the cooperative to operate its facilities more efficiently and provide a source of conventional (non-GM) crude lecithin for processing.



September/October Table of Contents