by Ben Nuelle
One of North America’s largest grain storage companies establishes headquarters in Ames.
Farmer board members from Farmers Cooperative Company and West Central Cooperative signed a final merger agreement Friday.
The company is now called Landus Cooperative.
Landus Cooperative CEO Milan Kucerak says there are several advantages to this merger.
?Both FC and West Central have grain, agronomy and animal feed manufacturing. With the addition of value-added products, plus the advantage that FC has being on all seven rail lines in the state of Iowa gives us tremendous advantage for marketing corn and soybeans. When you have that kind of diversity in a business model, it really speaks to what you can do to maintain a competitive advantage over time.?
Kucerak says it?s historic in the sense this is a true merger in that both memberships had to vote and approve.
?Historically, if you were to study the quote un quote mergers in Iowa and other states, many many times it?s an acquisition. A larger stronger coop is acquiring or taking over a smaller coop that may not have the size and scale to continue or is in financial difficulty. In those cases, typically that coop that is being acquired has to vote.?
The merger was approved by a vote by each cooperative?s membership finalized on Dec. 18, 2015. Landus Cooperative has 725 full-time employees at locations in more than 70 communities in Iowa and Minnesota and approximately 7,000 member-owners.
