Shareholders of Lincoln Land FS Inc. in Jacksonville, Ill., and Two Rivers FS Inc. in Rushville, Ill., have approved a merger of the two companies, effective Dec. 1. The new full-service cooperative will operate under the name of Prairieland FS Inc., and will be headquartered in Jacksonville.
The combined footprint of Lincoln Land FS and Two Rivers FS extends Prairieland’s service area from west-central Illinois into northeastern Missouri. The new company will provide agronomy, energy, facility planning, grain marketing, and logistics products and services to customers in Adams, Brown, Menard, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, and southwestern Fulton counties in Illinois, and also in four Missouri counties.
Keith Hufendick, former manager of Two Rivers FS, has been named CEO of the new company, while Matt Busby, former manager of Lincoln Land FS, will serve as chief operating officer. Other key management positions include Joe Pickrell, who will serve as president, and Chet Esther, who assumes the role of vice president.
Lincoln Land FS’s service area in west-central Illinois includes facilities at Jacksonville, Atterberry, Auburn, Bethel, Franklin, Greenview, Illiopolis, New Berlin, Prentice, Riverton, and Winchester. Two Rivers FS operates facilities in Kahoka and Taylor, Mo., and also at 14 Illinois locations in Rushville, Astoria, Camden, Golden, Ipava, Kinderhook, Kingston, Milton, Mt. Sterling, Paloma, Payson, Pittsfield, Pleasant Hill, and Ursa.
The FS co-ops are affiliates of Growmark, a regional cooperative based in Bloomington, Ill., with annual sales of $10.1 billion. Two Rivers FS and Lincoln Land FS together posted $300 million in sales for the most recent fiscal year ended July 31, 2013.