OUR COMMITMENT

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Our History

In 1996 two local cooperatives, Goodhue Elevator and Farmers Elevator Company of Lake City, consolidated to form Ag Partners Coop.  Unification with Farm Country Coop in 2013, Genesis Coop in 2018, and All-American Coop in 2021 expanded the customer base and territory significantly into what it is today.

Ag Partners is a strong member-owned cooperative serving producers, communities, homeowners and businesses across Southern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

 

A Unique Organization

In 2005 Ag Partners converted from an equity company to a stock company.  That sets us apart from other cooperatives. Members of Ag Partners have exchanged their equities for Class A Preferred Stock, which offers:

  • Liquidity: Stock may be bought or sold at the shareholder’s discretion.
  • A Return on Investment: Shareholders receive dividends established annually by the company’s board of directors.
  • Cash Up Front: The conversion of equity to preferred stock has allowed Ag Partners to continue paying a high percentage of its declared patronage in cash at the end of each year.

Customers continue to earn equities as they transact business annually with Ag Partners. These equities have been paid in cash within four years in recent history.

Ag Partners has aggressively sought strategic partnerships to assist us in providing services to our producers.

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Ag Partners Mission Statement
To enhance the profitability of our member producers while maintaining the economic viability of our cooperative.

Ag Partners Vision Statement
Making a difference with our experience, innovation, and customer focus.

 

Our Commitment to You

A “Customer First” Attitude
Whether it’s a new service or a new product we are considering, it must pass one basic test: it must be of value to our customers, large or small. It must result in more pounds of milk or meat, more bushels of grain, and more profit to our customers in order for Ag Partners to promote it!

Professional Employees
Ag Partners employees are frontline representatives of our customer-focused company. Empowered to make decisions in the field, our experienced staff delivers fast, friendly service and acts as a pipeline through which the needs of our customers flow back to our leadership. Ag Partners remains committed to the ongoing training of its staff in order to keep ahead of the new technologies that our customers need.

Consistency and Promises Kept
Our Coop is committed to upgrading facilities and equipment that serves our customers. This results in products and services of dependable quality, delivered on time.

Financial Strength
Our ability to maintain a robust balance sheet and simultaneously return a high percentage of patronage to our customers in cash at the end of each year is a testimony to the ongoing profitability and fiscal stability of Ag Partners.

Adapting to Change
Ag Partners takes a lead role in providing its customers new ways of enhancing the profitability of production agriculture. We do this with grain marketing ideas, a fresh approach to animal nutrition or the latest technology advances in our agronomy equipment and services.

Grass Roots Leadership
Respected and elected by their peers, the Ag Partners Board of Directors meets regularly to give direction to this customer-owned company.

Value Added Partnerships
As our name suggests, Ag Partners continually looks outside the traditional cooperative structure and partners with organizations (both public and private) that can deliver exceptional value in the form of expertise and economies of scale. Our customers are the prime beneficiaries of this approach through reduced input costs and improved commodity prices that enhance the profitability of their farming practices.

We look forward to serving your needs now and for many years into the future.

 

 

 

 

Our Partnerships

In recent years Ag Partners has aggressively sought strategic partnerships to assist in providing services to our producers.

We are currently in an LLC partnership with:

  • Red Wing Grain: A grain terminal and barge loading facility in Red Wing MN.