Growmark

Growmark, Inc., is a regional agricultural supply cooperative operating in more than 40 states and one operation in Ontario, Canada. Its local member cooperatives commonly use the name FS ("Farm Supply").

Growmark ranks 74th on the ICA Global 300 2008 list of mutuals and cooperatives (ranked by revenue).ICA Global
, ICA Global retrieved on 10 August 2009.

History

The organization now known as Growmark started in 1927 when nine of the local agricultural supply cooperatives in Illinois, which had started early in the 1920s, formed Illinois Farm Supply Company.

In 1955, the company adopted the FS trademark, which has remained in use by its member cooperatives since then. In the 1960s, the company moved from Chicago to Bloomington, Illinois, merged with Farm Bureau Service Company of Iowa to form FS Services, Inc., then merged Wisconsin Farmco Service Cooperative and Producers Seed Company into itself as well.

FS Services and Illinois Grain Corporation merged in 1980 to form Growmark.

Growmark gained the 37 member cooperatives in Ontario when it acquired United Co-operatives of Ontario in 1994.

It entered the northeastern U.S. market in 2002 by purchasing Agway's seed and agronomy businesses, including Seedway.

References

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External links

Growmark
— official site

Companies based in Bloomington–Normal
Economy of the Midwestern United States
Economy of the Northeastern United States
Agricultural cooperatives in the United States
Cooperatives in the United States
Agricultural cooperatives in Canada
Business services companies established in 1927
Agricultural supply cooperatives
1927 establishments in Illinois