The role of young people involved in agriculture is a true focus for GROWMARK. During their recent annual meeting State FFA Officers from Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin and representatives from the Ontario Cooperative Young Leaders spoke to members on the role of young people in agriculture and their future roles in the industry. I had the chance to talk with …
Pride & Progress for GROWMARK in 2012
For 85 years GROWMARK has been a cooperative members could count on and they exhibited that through the theme for the 2012 GROWMARK Annual Meeting, Pride and Progress. Dan Kelley, Chairman of the Board and President of GROWMARK, explained what pride and progress means to him and how the drought has and will continue to affect GROWMARK’s members. “We are …
Fiscal Year Comes to an End for GROWMARK
August 31st marked the end to GROWMARK’s fiscal year. To mark the year end members from across the Midwest attended the 85th GROWMARK Annual Meeting in Chicago. The meeting didn’t just consist of business reports and elections, laughter seemed to be a key element throughout the event. Comedian Jeanne Robertson was the highlight of the banquet Thursday evening and keynote …
GROWMARK Ensures Reliable Fuel, Stable Prices
Making sure you have the fuels you need… at the prices you expect… is one of the challenges farmers face to make sure they keep their bottom lines in the black. Our friends at GROWMARK Energy are helping producers make sure they have quality fuels at stable prices. Marty Wieland, GROWMARK director of energy operations and risk management, explains that …
GROWMARK Supports ASTA
Matt Hynes, Manager, Agronomy Marketing, for GROWMARK is on the board of the American Seed Trade Association as a Regional Vice President. I spoke with him to learn more about ASTA and why GROWMARK is supportive of the organization. To start with Matt says that the seed business is part of what GROWMARK does. “To be part of an organization …
GROWMARK Celebrating 85 Years
GROWMARK has two reasons to celebrate this year – the International Year of the Cooperative and GROWMARK’s 85th anniversary. “The cooperative obviously has evolved a lot over those 85 years,” says Dan Kelley, Illinois farmer and president of the GROWMARK Board of Directors. “Energy is still a main part of GROWMARK’s product distribution. Nearly half of our sales continue to …
Top 5 Largest Agriculture Cooperatives in 2010
The nation’s 100 largest agriculture cooperatives reported near-record revenue of $118 billion in 2010, announced USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager. This was an increase of 4 percent over 2009 figures. Net income for the 100 top agriculture co-ops was also up more than 10 percent in 2010, reaching $2.39 billion, up from $2.16 billion in 2009. Here are …
GROWMARK CEO Pleased with Pursuit of Maximum Yields
GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg is very pleased with response to the FS Green Plan Solutions program to help growers discover new methods that will help them attain maximum yields. I had a chance to chat with Jeff as he attended the Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) grower event last week in Collinsville, Illinois. He told me that the program is …
GROWMARK Celebrating 2012 International Year of Cooperatives
During this year that the United Nations has declared the “International Year of Cooperatives,” GROWMARK has a number of projects going on to participate. To learn about them I spoke with Amy Bradford, Corporate Communications Manager. Amy says GROWMARK has several programs underway. One of them works with their local cooperatives called, “You’re on the World Stage.” It allows them …
UN Kicks off International Year of Cooperatives
On the same day the world was officially proclaimed home of seven billion souls, the United Nations General Assembly officially declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives with the theme of “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World”. “This Day of 7 Billion – is not about one newborn, or even one generation,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “This is a …