Mission, Vision and Values

Mission:

Investing in our Owners' Success; delivering service and solutions to exceed customer expectations

Vision:

To be the best; providing solutions to achieve employee and customer success

Core Values:

Integrity - Do what we say, deliver what we promise, and fix what we don't
Safety - Provide a caring safety environment for our employees, customers, and communities
Customers - We are committed to meeting the ever-changing needs of our customers
Employees - We invest in the development and success of our employees
Communities - We are committed to making a difference in the communities we serve
Success - We honor the legacy of our past and are committed to long-term financial success

Farmers Cooperative History

In January 1903, the editor of "The Central Farmer" magazine, a long time supporter in the fight against the "grain combine", set about to organize the Nebraska Farmers Cooperative Grain and Livestock Association. The association announced its purpose as follows - to protect members of the association from discrimination; to furnish reports of crop and market conditions, and to procure the best possible market for their products.

At the same time, Dorchester area farmers were meeting to discuss the organizing of a cooperative association. On March 28, 1903, the first stockholders meeting of the Dorchester Farmers Cooperative Grain and Livestock Association was held in the Keeps Opera House in Dorchester, NE. 115 farmers became stockholders and they elected seven men as their first Board of Directors. They were: W.C. Endicott - President, J.W. Carper - Vice President, Franklin Miller - Secretary, D.J. Buckingham - Treasurer, W.J. Reid, Bert Psikal, and O.T. Henshue. Charles Mcllnay became the first manager and a 15,000 bushel elevator was completed in October 1903 at a cost of $3,905.00.

The 1990's brought on a lot of changes in growth, with mergers and acquisitions, creating 14 locations in the local area by April of 2000. During the summer of 2002, merger talk started with Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Plymouth, NE. In June of 2002, a historic vote was passed to merge the two companies and adopt a new name of Farmers Cooperative. Since then, Farmers Cooperative has continued to grow to meet producers needs and today has 61 locations spread throughout southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas. As Farmers Cooperative continues to grow, the company will always keep one priority in mind- Investing In Our Owners Success.

HISTORY BOOKLET

Photo of Dorchester's J.R. Clark elevator from 1907 via Dorchester Times

Annual Meeting

2021 Farmers Cooperative Annual Meeting
Farmers Cooperative hosted our 19th Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at Farmers Cooperative DeWitt Campus in DeWitt, Nebraska. The meeting was also livestreamed for patrons to attend virtually.

The Farmers Cooperative Board of Directors were present to hold their meeting where Allan Zumpfe, CEO, discussed highlights from 2021 and Mark Thieszen, CFO, shared the financials from the annual report. The Board of Director election results were announced with Dallas Dobrovolny (Waterville, KS), Darren Meinke (Crete, NE), Alan Dorn (Beatrice, NE), and Brian Schwartz (Hanover, KS) being elected to the position for their designated territories.

We would like to thank retiring board member Max Larsen for his 23 years of dedicated service to the Farmers Cooperative Board of Directors.