United Cooperative

General information

The many amenities of the Co-op Movement
An article about United Cooperative
(Note: Some of the statistics in this article have been updated to provide you with the most current information.)
By: Gloria Hafemeister

The cooperative movement has been around since time began, but the cooperative form of a business organization dates back to the industrial revolution when farmers and consumers found they could accomplish more together than they could individually.

David Cramer, president and chief executive officer of Beaver Dam-based United Cooperative, says, “The purpose of a cooperative is to work together for the benefit of all the members, creating more buying power, and in turn, offering products and services to its members at competitive prices.”

The major benefit of working with a cooperative is it keeps the profits local, with profits returned to customers and not to fund someone’s private wealth.

United Cooperative has a long, impressive history in the local and state-wide agricultural community, growing in business every year.

Because United Cooperative is financially successful, the patrons reap the benefits every April with a patronage refund. A patronage refund is a return of the savings of a cooperative to its patrons.

At United Cooperative, patronage refunds are paid in two ways. Patrons receive a check for 40 percent of their refund in April. The other 60 percent is paid in the form of equity credits; this portion finances the cooperative’s operations. Equity credits are paid out at the discretion of the board of directors: through the estate program, equity revolvement program, or at age 77 or older.

United Cooperative is the largest farm-supply cooperative in Wisconsin and the 54th largest agricultural cooperative in the U.S (according to the October, 2013, United States Department of Agriculture report). They excel in financial success, customer service, and efficiency.

“We believe efficiency saves money for the cooperative and the customer,” Cramer says. “We understand agriculture is changing and continues to change. We stay current so our customers can be successful in feeding the world’s growing population.”

United Cooperative started in 1936 as an energy cooperative. It has grown significantly over the years.

Energy is still an important part of the business. Backed by American-owned CHS, Inc. (Cenex®), United Cooperative helps customers fill their farm tractors with premium ag diesel from an on-farm tank or a bulldozer with a portable fuel tank at a construction site. United Cooperative also offers lubricants for all sizes and types of engines, transmissions, hydraulics, and gear cases. They’ll heat your home, business, and farm with premium Cenex propane, too.

The energy division also includes 16 convenience stores, 10 of which carry ethanol blends E15, E30, and E85 at reduced prices. The convenience stores, along with other locations, carry general-consumer items, too: dog food, bird seed, fertilizer, water-softener salt, etc. If these items are purchased and documented on the customer’s account, the customer will accumulate patronage.

Today, United Cooperative also has feed, agronomy, and grain divisions, in addition to a mixture of other businesses, such as two Ponderosa Steakhouse restaurants, one in Beaver Dam and the other in Hartford.

The feed division employs nutrition specialists who spend the necessary time finding management answers for farmers, determining animal rations, and then supplying the needed supplements for dairy, beef, swine, sheep, goats, and many specialty species.

They provide custom feed blending and mixing, as well as bulk, barreled, and bagged deliveries.

In the area of agronomy, United Cooperative has locations throughout Wisconsin supported by one of the largest total liquid and dry fertilizer storage facilities in the Midwest. Having cutting-edge equipment greatly enhances the effectiveness of their services.

The agronomy team offers a full line of seed and has agronomists stationed throughout Wisconsin helping to make cost-efficient plant-food and crop-protection recommendations. Growers can apply their own crop protection and nutrients, or they can take advantage of the cooperative’s custom-application department.

United Cooperative is one of Wisconsin’s largest grain elevator systems with high-speed receiving, high-capacity drying, storage, and marketing plans for all commodities. “In this particular division,” Cramer noted, “we are very well known for our high level of efficiency at many of our locations – helping our crop growers get their harvest done faster.”

“We also lease our own rail cars and have our own trucking fleet so we can easily move grain from our grain locations to processors, including United Ethanol LLC at Milton. United Cooperative is the managing member of United Ethanol and the majority of the corn originated by the cooperative’s grain locations is processed for ethanol production.

Including the restaurants, United Cooperative employs about 700 people, with extra people hired to help during planting and harvest seasons. The cooperative does business out of 31 Wisconsin communities, with most customers in South Central and Northeast Wisconsin, but a few in northern Illinois, Iowa and Upper Michigan.

In these communities, the cooperative strives to provide financial support to many worthwhile organizations and offers scholarships to young people whose parents are patron members. In 2013, the cooperative presented $1,000 scholarships to 27 graduating high-school seniors.

United Cooperative has always been a strong supporter of FFA, 4-H, and the local county fairs, donating money for continued education, building projects, events and trips, purchasing animals at livestock auctions, and serving meals to fair-animal exhibitors.

United Cooperative is governed by a board of directors, who do business with the cooperative, and are voted into their positions by fellow patron members.

Howard Bohl owns a sixth-generation dairy farm in Beaver Dam and serves as the current board chairman. He says, “We’ve always been happy with the service provided by the cooperative. It fits in with our operation. It doesn’t matter what size the business – when we were 80 cows or hundreds of cows – the cooperative adapted as we adapted.”

Cramer and Bohl agree diversity has helped the cooperative become a fairy-tale success story, and the secret to continued success is hard work, doing the basic things right, and providing customer service.

Cramer believes farms of all sizes are needed to feed the world, and farms are getting more efficient all the time. “United Cooperative is ready to grow with agriculture and adopt the new technologies as our patron members do. If the farm members of the cooperative are successful, the cooperative will succeed.”

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United Cooperative has locations in Auroraville, Baraboo, Beaver Dam, Bonduel, Deerfield, Denmark, Greenville, Gresham, Hartford, Hillsboro, Horicon, Hustisford, Iron Ridge, Johnson Creek, Kendall, Mayville, Ontario, Pickett, Poynette, Prairie du Sac, Pulaski, Reedsburg, Ripon, Rock Springs, Sauk City, Shawano, South Beaver Dam, Watertown, Wilton, Wonewoc, Wyocena, and Yuba. For more information, visit www.unitedcooperative.com.