Alceco/Ag Partners and First Cooperative Association (FCA), two Iowa cooperatives that completed a merger last September (GM June 23, 2021), announced on Jan. 17 that the company will now operate under the new name of AgState.
The cooperative, headquartered in Cherokee, Iowa, said the rebranding reflects both the company’s evolution and its vision for the future. Along with the new name, a redesigned company logo was revealed, and a new website will launch in the spring of 2022. AgState said its 12-member board of directors and leadership team remain focused on team integration and capturing synergies between the two organizations.
“As part of our focus on business development and sustainability, our leadership team and I believe it was appropriate to rebrand our company to specifically reflect our long history and heritage with top quality products and services,” said CEO Troy Upah. “We are very excited about the introduction of our new company name – AgState – because it allows us to better represent our business to our current farmer-members and to attract our younger farmers who are still entering the working world.”
AgState operates a total of 32 grain and agronomy facilities in Iowa. Members of Alceco and FCA voted in favor of the merger last June after the boards of both cooperatives commissioned a study in 2020 to examine synergies and make recommendations on potential unification (GM Dec. 18, 2020). In April 2021, the combined boards voted unanimously to move forward with a merger vote (GM April 30, 2021).
Alceco, which stands for Albert City Elevator Cooperative, was formed in 1905, but grew over the decades through multiple expansions and acquisitions, including a merger in 2008 with Midwest Farmers Cooperative.
Alceco partnered with Cargill in 1997 to form Ag Partners LLC, a joint venture that provides grain, agronomy, feed, and petroleum products and services from 17 retail and wholesale locations in Iowa. Ag Partners now operates as a solely-owned subsidiary of Alceco after the company announced in 2020 that it had acquired full ownership from Cargill (GM July 31, 2020).
Prior to the merger, FCA provided agronomy, energy, grain, and feed products and services from 22 locations in northwestern Iowa. The company is recognized as the oldest continuously active cooperative elevator in the nation, tracing its roots to 1887, when Farmers Cooperative Elevator of Marcus, Iowa, was incorporated.
FCA was formed under its present name in 1997 through the merger of four Iowa cooperatives – Farmers Cooperative Association in Marathon, Agland Coop in Alta, Farmers Cooperative in Aurelia, and Farmers Cooperative in Cleghorn.