Cooperative Communications Association Awards

Left: Amy Bradford
Right: Jenny Haycraft

Four GROWMARK employees were honored at the recent Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) Institute, held in Kansas City, Mo. First place awards went to Karen Jones, publications and news specialist and Tiffany Loercher, graphic designer in the employee magazine category and the cooperative education categories for the GROWMARK Spirit. Second place honors were earned by Amy Bradford, corporate communications manager, in the speechwriting category; Jenny Haycraft, marketing communications specialist, for the 2009 Crop Protection Handbook; and Jones in the words and pictures category.

The Cooperative Communicators Association works to help its members excel in communications, from writing, photography, and editing to video, layout, and design. It also emphasizes ideas and strategies aimed at making communications more successful for cooperatives.

Left: Tiffany Loercher

Right: Karen Jones

Claude Gauthier Elected CCA President

Claude Gauthier, Ontario Region manager, has been elected president of the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), a national organization representing more than 2,000 cooperatives and credit unions across Canada.

Gauthier joined the CCA board in 2004 and previously held the role of vice president. He is a long-time leader in Ontario's agricultural cooperative community. He served as president of United Co-operatives of Ontario (UCO) in the 1990s and joined GROWMARK when it bought UCO in 1994.

North Wellington Co-op Celebrates 65 Years of Business and a New Central Feed Warehouse

This article appeared on Marketwire on June 23, 2009 and was written by Janice Johnson, Ontario communication specialist.

A 65th anniversary celebration for North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. will include a gift to its members in the form of a new central feed warehouse at the cooperative's combination grand opening and anniversary gathering starting at 11:30 a.m. on June 25th at 56 Margaret St. South in Harriston, Ontario.

The new central feed warehouse replaces an older feed manufacturing mill. A much larger building than the previous one, it measures 40 ft. x 100 ft. and is large enough to serve all four branches and customers of North Wellington Co-operative. It will house bagged feed, and will include a large generator equipped to fully power the store, warehouse, propane plant, crop protection warehouse and cardlock gas bar in the case of a power outage.

Kelly Boyle, the cooperative's general manager, sees this as a much needed change and a better use of space. Customers will notice improvements in a few ways, but the biggest benefit is that in most cases, they will be able to pick up orders with one stop at the new warehouse instead of multiple stops around the property. "As well, the improvement to our appearance in the community will be an extra bonus for our neighbors as they enjoy the nicer view," Boyle says.
"We are one of the strongest cooperatives in Ontario," says North Wellington Co-operative Services President Eric Rae. "For a business to grow for 65 years, it not only requires a strong group of employees, an outstanding management team and board of directors but also a great amount of community spirit and customer-member loyalty."

After the grand opening ceremony, a barbecue lunch will be served to celebrate the cooperative's milestone anniversary.

An early picture of the cooperative in Harriston, Ontario.

North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. started as Harriston Co-operative Association on May 9, 1944 with the purchase of a feed mill on Margaret Street in Harriston. In 1956, the cooperative built a new feed mill, and entered into the bulk fuel business and a couple of years later, provided propane services. In 1960, Mount Forest District Co-operative Co. Ltd. became part of the Harriston group, and the expanded co-operative gained the name it has today. In the early nineties, during a process called Co-operative Restructuring in Ontario, the cooperative purchased the Hanover and Durham branches from United Co-operatives of Ontario, and in 1994, joined the new Ontario regional cooperative GROWMARK, Inc. The next decade was a time of calculated growth: The cooperative demonstrated its commitment to providing garden expertise and opened four new greenhouses. It expanded its energy product offering with rural energy marketing leader, UPI Inc., and created a central warehouse in Harriston. Today, 4,000 members own the cooperative. It has annual sales approaching $28 million and in 2008, had a net income of more than 475 thousand dollars. Profits of the cooperative are shared with members and used to improve the services of the cooperative.

The Harriston office of North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. today.

Agrichemical Container Recycling

Once again, GROWMARK is working with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Container Recycling Council, Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, Container Services Network, Illinois Farm Bureau, and University of Illinois Extension to offer agrichemical container recycling beginning in late July. The containers will be ground into small plastic chips that can be used to make shipping pallets, fence posts, drainage tubing, plastic lumber and other useful products.

Special one-day collection sites will be:

Two Rivers FS, Inc., Pittsfield, Ill., afternoon of July 27

Lincoln Land FS, Inc., Jacksonville, Ill., morning of July 28

Sunrise Ag Service Company, Virginia, Ill., afternoon of July 28

Two Rivers FS, Inc., Rushville, Ill., morning of July 29

Gold Star FS, Inc., Aledo, Ill., afternoon of July 30

Gold Star FS, Inc., Lyndon, Ill., afternoon of August 3

Conserv FS, Inc., Rockford, Ill., afternoon of August 4

Conserv FS, Inc., Marengo, Ill., morning of August 5

GRAINCO FS, Inc., Lostant, Ill., morning of August 6

Evergreen FS, Inc., Minonk, Ill., afternoon of August 6

Ag-Land FS, Inc., Hanna City, Ill., afternoon of August 10

Ag-Land FS, Inc., Green Valley, Ill., morning of August 11

Illini FS, Leverett, Ill., afternoon of August 13

Evergreen FS, Inc., Maroa, Ill., morning of August 14

Gateway FS, Inc., Waterloo, Ill., afternoon of August 26

Madison Service Company, Marine, Ill., afternoon of August 27

M & M Service Company, Girard, Ill., morning of September 1

More information about the program is available by calling the Illinois Department of Agriculture at 800/641-3934.

Twelve Facilities Earn National Safety Council Recognition

Employees at 12 GROWMARK facilities earned safety recognition awards from the National Safety Council for having an injury/incidence rate for 2008 lower than the national average for their location's National American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

The facilities earning recognition are:

Albany Maintenance, Illinois
Alpha Distribution Center, Illinois
Bloomington Seed Testing Lab, Illinois
Bourbon Fertilizer, Illinois
Colfax Fertilizer, Illinois
Des Moines Maintenance, Iowa
East Liverpool Fertilizer, Pennsylvania
GROWMARK Lubricants, Iowa
Philadelphia Fertilizer, Pennsylvania
South Roxana Maintenance, Illinois
Tank and Truck Center, Iowa
Tremont Maintenance, Illinois