All Posts from January 19, 2024

Nebraska Co-ops Approve Merger; Legacy Cooperative Begins Operations March 1

Two Nebraska cooperatives – Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co. in Hemingford, and Panhandle Cooperative Assoc. in Scottsbluff – announced on Jan. 16 that their members have voted in favor of a merger, which will take effect on March 1, 2024.

The combined co-op will operate under the Legacy Cooperative name and will be headquartered in Scottsbluff, offering grain, agronomy, feed, energy, and grocery products and services to members and customers in the Nebraska Panhandle, southwestern South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado.

The vote was certified at a special membership meeting on Jan. 11, with Panhandle members voting 626-77 in favor of the merger and Farmers members approving the merger with a 150-111 vote, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported. The two businesses said the merger will enhance operational efficiencies, improve service delivery, and increase value for members.

“The boards of both companies recognized the culture similarities of boards and management and the opportunities that a combined company could offer its members,” said John Haas, Chairman of the Farmers Co-op board. “This merger strengthens the positions of both cooperatives into the future while continuing the support of our communities.”

Charlie Wright, current CEO of Panhandle Co-op, will serve as Legacy Cooperative’s CEO, while Farmers Co-op CEO Bart Moseman will continue as Legacy Cooperative’s Chief Operating Officer.

“I would like to thank the forward-thinking members of both cooperatives that brought together two regional powerhouses known for their commitment to excellence and solutions,” Wright said. “Legacy Cooperative will leverage the collective expertise, resources, and cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize service to our combined trade areas while offering solutions to feed the world.”

The two businesses said there are no plans to close any facilities as a result of the merger. Initially, Farmers Co-op and Panhandle Co-op will each have seven directors appointed to the new board. Memberships and patronage of both cooperatives will be honored and carried forward in the new entity, with equity in Legacy Cooperative redeemed by age of equity.

“Panhandle doesn’t have grain; Farmers Co-op doesn’t have energy; we both have agronomy, but we don’t overlap,” Wright told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald. “It just vertically integrates us, and I think that’s really the important thing.”

Panhandle Co-op was formed in 1942 with 60 members, and now has 20,000 members and more than 350 employees. The company operates agronomy, energy, feed, and grocery businesses at Torrington, Wyo., and Nebraska locations at Scottsbluff, Alliance, Kimball, Dalton, Bridgeport, and Oshkosh.

Farmers Co-op traces its roots to 1918, and currently has 1,675 stockholders. The company operates grain, agronomy, and feed divisions in Martin, S.D., and at Nebraska locations in Hemingford, Hay Springs, Gordon, and Alliance.

“We are excited to bring these two great cooperatives together for the benefit of our patrons, employees, customers, and communities,” said Douglas Olsen, Panhandle Co-op Board Chair. “Legacy will be a cooperative leader in our region as we continue to provide exceptional goods and services that all our patrons and customers need and want. Legacy Cooperative will build on the history of these two cooperatives to develop and grow a legacy for future generations of stockholders, employees, customers, and patrons.”

Congress Averts US Government Shutdown; Farm Bill Backers Seek Quick Action

Congress passed a temporary spending bill on Jan. 18 to avert a partial US government shutdown, sending the legislation to the White House, where President Joe Biden plans to sign it. The interim measure would finance some US agencies that were set to run out of money after Jan. 19, with some financed through March 1 and others through March 8. 

The House voted 314 to 108 to pass the short-term funding bill just hours after the Senate approved it. Nearly half of House Republicans voted against the measure while Democrats overwhelmingly supported it. The short-term package is meant to give lawmakers time to complete negotiations on annual funding for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. 

Six weeks of funding to March 1 may not be enough time to work out remaining differences, however. The House is scheduled to be on break for three of those weeks, raising prospects for yet another short-term spending bill. 

If the government is operating under interim funding on April 30, automatic across-the-board spending cuts would be triggered under provisions in last June’s debt ceiling compromise. That threat could spur lawmakers to finally settle 2024 spending. 

In the meantime, wrangling over government spending bills and the challenge of moving big legislation in an election year are major hurdles for getting a five-year, $1.5 trillion farm bill across the finish line in 2024, according to a report by Bloomberg Law.

Big industry groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, want House and Senate Agriculture Committees to start focusing on the farm bill once the two chambers actually finalize government funding.

After that, Congress should “move on to other things like the farm bill,” said Joby Young, Farm Bureau Executive Vice President. “I would hope those gears would start to move in a couple of months, toward the end of this quarter,” he said.

Much of the timing hinges on congressional leadership committing floor time for the reauthorization, which will likely be “closely sequenced” to follow committee action, Young said.

Top Senate Ag Committee Republican John Boozman (Ark.) said panel members are debating how to carve up the record $1.51 trillion spending for the bill. Members are now “putting stuff on paper,” he said, essentially outlining priorities that would be “the first step before sitting down and really ironing out differences.”

Boozman conceded there is a narrower window in an election year for passing big legislation, but said members traditionally want wins to tout to voters before election day. “This is something they can take home and can talk to their constituencies about how they got it done,” he said.

Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a Senate agriculture panel member, echoed that view. “There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle that need a bipartisan farm bill” to show “they have ushered in really impactful bills” for their states, he said. For many states, agriculture is among their top five industries, Booker said.

There is a fallback position if backers fail to get a five-year bill this year, and that is another one-year extension. Farm programs slated to expire last year were already extended one year through Sept. 30 under a continuing resolution (H.R. 6363) passed in November (GM Nov. 17, 2023).

Boozman said it is too early to talk about “what-ifs” such as resorting to another extension, and said he is more concerned with getting a five-year bill done in the months between now and the 2024 election, after which prospects for passage dim in a lame-duck session.

One senior House Ag Committee Democrat said there is plenty of reason to be skeptical, citing GOP infighting in the Republican-controlled House, an influx of new Republicans since the 2018 farm bill, and the lack of significant bills passed in the House last year.

“The people who seem to be directly calling the shots are people on the extreme right, who, by the way, most of them have never voted for a farm bill,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

Republicans could try to ram through a partisan farm bill that would have little hope of being conferenced with a bill by the Democrat-controlled Senate, he said. That could force farm bill backers to once again opt for the short-term solution. “There may have to be another extension,” McGovern said.