NEWS LINE
Compiled by Dan Campbell
Send items to: dan.campbell@USDA.gov
Iowa Turkey Growers Co-op
expands new processing plant
The Iowa Turkey Growers
Cooperative (ITGC) is expanding its
Mount Pleasant Foods slicing plant
from 55,000 square feet with 12 slicing
rooms by an additional 25,000 square
feet and eight slicing rooms. The coop’s
workforce at the plant will expand
from 250 to 400. ITGC has also
formed an alliance with Millard
Refrigerated Services, of Omaha, Neb.,
to build a cold storage warehouse adjacent
to the Mount Pleasant facility.
The expansion of Mount Pleasant
Food and construction of the Millard
warehouse are expected to be complete
by late this summer.
When it opened in June 2003 to
further process turkey, ham and beef
products, ITGC leaders thought the
Mount Pleasant facility would meet
the co-op’s needs for about three years.
But customer demand has grown so
rapidly that the
timetable had to be
shortened, according
to Ken Rutledge, coop
president.
ITGC operates two
other processing
plants, West Liberty
Foods and Sigourney
Foods, which ship
fully cooked, ready-toeat
meat products to Mount Pleasant
for slicing. Slicing in a separate facility
helps to ensure food safety. Mount
Pleasant processes and sells deli and
meat products for several national
retailers, including 1 million pounds
of turkey annually for Subway, sandwich
“set-ups” for Wal-Mart and
sliced turkey and ham for Denny’s
restaurants.
Finished product will move from
the Mount Pleasant plant by conveyor
belt directly to the Millard facility next
door for storage and distribution, says
Ed Garrett, ITGC senior vice president
and chief operating officer.
Miller’s 60,000-square-foot warehouse
will have both refrigerated and frozen
storage, with a capacity of 52 million
pounds of meat products. It will
employ 30 people. ITGC has annual
sales of $200 million and a workforce
of 1,500.
Georgia oilseed co-op plan
launched with USDA grant
Georgia’s Farmers Oilseed
Cooperative (FOC), after more than
two years of planning, has hired its
first CEO and launched a stock drive.
Robert Carlson, a native of Minnesota
and a veteran in the oilseed business,
was hired in November and is now
directing the day-to-day operations of
the co-op. Carlson has extensive experience running an oilseed processing
plant and in marketing the finished
product, both nationally and internationally.
One of Carlson’s first actions was to
launch a class-A stock sale. One share
of the stock represents a 50-pound unit
of commodity: canola, soybeans or
other oilseeds. The co-op will need to
sell over 10 million shares to fully utilize
its planned crushing and refining
facility. Promotional material is being
sent out to all Georgia oilseed producers.
The co-op’s board anticipates that
stock sales will continue for about 10
months.
FOC has been assisted in its planning
efforts with a Value-Added
Development Grant awarded in 2002
by USDA Rural Development. The
USDA funds were used to complete a
business plan, finish securities work and
pay for other organizational expenses.
The co-op board has worked closely
with the University of Georgia and the
RBS Cooperative Development division
of USDA Rural Development
throughout the planning process, the
goal of which is to increase on-farm
income and to create a positive impact
on Georgia’s rural economy. Visit:
www.farmersoilseed.com for more
information.
Iowa Premium Pork selling
stock for plant purchase
Iowa Premium Pork Co. (IPPC), a
farmer-owned co-op, is attempting to
raise $6.5 million to buy a processing
plant the Hartley, Iowa. The plant is
owned by PM Beef Holdings LLC, of
Richmond, Va., which closed it a year
ago after it expanded a similar plant in
Minnesota. IPPC farmer members are
being asked to invest $10 to $12 per
share, up to 1.7 million shares, in a
subsidiary called Majestic Food Group
LLC. Majestic plans to acquire the
processing plant and have hogs
slaughtered at other plants. Plans call
for 1,000 hogs to be processed daily,
building to 2,000 daily within a month
after operations begin this summer.
Within three years, the co-op plans to
process 6,000 hogs daily, or about 1.5
million per year. The plant will employ
130 people.
NMPF says CWT program
having major price impact
The National Milk Producers
Federation is projecting that dairy producers
in Wisconsin and Minnesota
will realize an additional $200 million
of income by September as a result of
the Cooperatives Working Together
(CWT) program. CWT is an industry
sponsored and funded self-help
effort to boost prices to farmers by
reducing surplus milk production.
Participating farmers pay a 5-cent fee
on every 100 pounds of milk they produce,
which NMPF uses to pay other
producers for reducing their production
or selling their herds. The herd
retirement part of the CWT program
has removed 33,000 cows from the
nation’s milking herd of 9 million
cows. Others have cut back production
by changing feed programs or stopping
use of growth hormones, etc.
Milk prices have risen from $11 per
hundredweight to about $13.50 in
much of the Upper Midwest since the
program was launched. Even many
critics are now calling the program a
success, according to press reports.
“With prices at record lows for 22
months, you had to do something,”
Waterloo, Wis., dairyman Todd Topel
told the Associated Press. “It seemed
to have some effect,” he added, noting
that he was not participating in the
program.
California Co-op Center closes;
services continue via Extension
Despite extensive support from the
co-op community, the University of
California Center for Cooperatives in
Davis closed Jan. 5, a victim of budget
cutbacks. However, rural cooperatives
will continue to be supported by the
university, which is moving the position
of the center’s director, Shermain
Hardesty, to a specialist position in the
Cooperative Extension of the university’s
Agricultural and Natural Resources
Division. Hardesty says she expects to
establish a new co-op center within the
department.
This smaller co-op center would
continue to support the development
of new rural cooperatives in California,
as well as addressing issues related to
established rural cooperatives. In addition
to Hardesty, the center will be
staffed by a half-time program assistant
and graduate research assistants. The
center’s mission will be to continue to
provide research, education, extension
and outreach to the state’s co-op community,
and to administer USDA
Rural Cooperative Development
grants.
Wisconsin home-healthcare
co-op named national finalist
Waushara County,
Wis., and the
Cooperative Care
home-healthcare
co–op are one of 50
finalists for the 2003
Innovations in American
Government award considered
by may to be the “Oscars” of
public service. The award is bestowed
by the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University.
Cooperative Care is an 89-member,
worker-owned co-op of home health
care providers who assist the elderly
and disabled to live independently in
their homes. The co-op development
process began in September of 1999
and became operational on June 1,
2001. For more on the co-op, see the
May-June 2003 issue of Rural
Cooperatives, pages 9-12 (on-line at:
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/openmag.
htm).
A competitive judging process will
choose 15 finalists, to be announced in
March. The National Selection
Committee on Innovations in
American Government, chaired by
David R. Gergen, editor-at-large of
U.S. News & World Report and
director of the Center for Public
Leadership at Harvard University, will
then choose five winning programs,
which will be announced on July 28,
in Washington. Winners receive
$100,000 grants to promote and replicate
their innovative efforts.
Jim Quane of Harvard University
visited Wautoma, Wis., February 25
27 to examine Cooperative Care’s
innovative approach and best practices.
If the co-op’s application makes it to
the next round, a team from Wautoma
will be flown to Harvard to present the
Cooperative Care story before a distinguished
panel of judges.
Ralph Bunje, farm co-op
bargaining leader, dies at 92
Ralph Bunje died Nov. 8 at the age
of 92. A nationally recognized farm
leader, orator and innovator, Bunje
served as president of the California
Canning Peach Association from 1950
1974. He was considered the dean of
farm bargaining for over 50 years. He,
along with Joseph Knapp, a former
administrator of the USDA Farmer
Cooperative Service, was instrumental
in initiating the National Bargaining
Conference in the early 1950s, which
continues to meet annually.
Bunje was also instrumental in coalescing
California and national bargaining
groups in supporting passage of the
Agricultural Fair Practices Act in 1967.
At the behest of Randall Torgerson,
then administrator of the USDA
Agricultural Cooperative Service, Bunje
authored the book “Cooperative Farm
Bargaining and Price Negotiations,”
published by USDA in 1980 (as
Cooperative Information Report 26). It
is still in demand and was recently
reprinted by USDA. It is a publication
of enduring importance that is used by
many farm groups today.
Bunje emphasized the importance
of having a well-informed board of
directors as a key to successful cooperative
organizations. He also strongly
believed in political action and member
involvement.
Ron Long, A.I. innovator,
retires from Select Sires
Ron Long, a respected innovator in
the artificial insemination (A.I.) industry,
has retired after 30 years with
Select Sires. Long, who was vice president,
dairy sire procurement, retired
Dec. 31. Long began his career with
Select Sires in 1973, working on a
dairy herd-consultation service. This
program, Select Mating Service, has
since evolved into the largest mating
program in the world, conducting
more than 3 million matings per year.
“Without a doubt, Ron Long is the
most respected person in the A.I. business
for his cow knowledge,” says Lon
Peters, manager of SMS, Select Sires.
“He has traveled to all corners of the
world to judge cattle shows, and to discuss
genetics and the economic impact
that good corrective-mating programs
can have. Ron is a one-in-a-million
individual who will be missed at Select
Sires.”
In addition to his accomplishments
with Select Sires, Long has been an
industry leader, serving as president of
National Dairy Shrine, on the
Holstein Association USA Type
Advisory Committee and Genetic
Advisory Committee, on the National
Association of Animal Breeders
(NAAB) Standardization of Type Traits
committee and on the Ohio State
University Dairy Science Advisory
committee. This national and international
dairy judge was also elected into
the Ohio State University Dairy
Science Department Hall of Fame.
Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select
Sires Inc. is a federation of 10 farmerowned
and -controlled cooperatives.
Community credit union
to serve low-income co-ops
Northcountry Cooperative Federal
Credit Union (NCFCU), a new community
development credit union, is
helping to make affordable home
ownership available to more people
across Minnesota and the Upper
Midwest. The credit union will make
loans to housing cooperatives and
members of housing cooperatives to
secure affordable home ownership
through owner-occupied housing
cooperatives. The credit union also
offers socially motivated investors an
opportunity to support the development of affordable housing in their
communities while enjoying the safety
of federal deposit insurance.
“NCFCU’s primary mission is to
increase access to financing products
for housing cooperatives and their
members,” says Margaret Lund, executive
director of Northcountry
Cooperative Development Fund
(NCDF), sponsor organization for the
credit union. “Housing cooperatives
are one of the best entry-level home
ownership opportunities that exist.
Unfortunately, widespread use of this
important tool is hindered by the fact
that few conventional lenders know
how to lend on these properties. The
credit union will be a catalyst, providing
communities across the upper
Midwest access to this vital wealth
building opportunity.”
NCDF is a Community
Development Financial Institution
(CDFI) and has been making loans to
cooperative enterprises across the
regional Midwest since 1978. NCDF is
structured as a cooperative, with over
100 member cooperatives, and acts as a
catalyst for the development and
growth of cooperative enterprises.
Co-ops gain North American
option for .coop registration
Cooperatives now have a North
American option for registering or
renewing .coop Internet addressees.
Pennsylvania-based Domain Bank
Inc., 10th largest registrar in this
country and among the 20 largest in
the world, has begun registering .coop
names in addition to other popular
Internet domains such as .com, .net
and .org.
“Domain Bank is highly regarded in
the industry and a North American registrar
is something we all have wanted
for some time,” said Paul Hazen, CEO
of the National Cooperative Business
Association, which won approval for the
.coop top-level domain in November
2000. Hazen said a key advantage of
using Domain Bank is its full range of
services for those registering .coop
names. For example, he said, Domain
Bank offers free and easy activation of
Internet names as part of its registration
fee. In addition, it offers forwarding services
for email and website support services
for a seamless transfer from a .com
or .org address to .coop.
Penlight restores
power in record time
Winter storm conditions in January
tested the reliability of Peninsula Light
Company’s (Penlight) distribution system,
but the 26,000-member electric
cooperative reports that it passed with
flying colors. CEO Rob Orton said
that many
other utility
customers
in the Puget
Sound region were without power for
days. “Our response time has significantly
improved,” said Orton, who
credits the co-op’s accomplishment to
its power-reliability program, which
“undergrounds” overhead lines,
replaces old underground cable and
trims “rogue tree branches.”
