History
|
The old Co-op Grocery Store (left portion of picture) in Beloit was basically under the same roof at the Farmway Co-op Administrative Office (right side of photo) in by-gone years..
|
The History of Farmway Co-op, Inc.On a Saturday morning in October 1910, delegates from Mitchell County's 12 neighborhood Farmer's Union organizations met at the Mitchell County Courthouse in Beloit, Kansas to form a county-wide chapter of the Farmer's Education and Cooperative Union of America.
In 1911, the Cooperative was chartered as the Farmer's Union Co-op Association with its priority to provide farmers, as a farmer-owned petroleum cooperative with fairer prices, petroleum products, and services needed for their farming operations.
Its first major purchase included oil storage tanks located near the railroad in Beloit and two draft horses used for the transportation of the and gasoline to producers.
In 1915, the name was changed to Mitchell County Farmers Union Co-op Association.
New services and products were continuously being offered at the Mitchell County Farmers Union Co-op Association with the introduction of products, cream stations, grocery stores, and new elevators with up-to-date equipment. The cooperative continued to grow.
At the 1948 Annual Meeting, members voted to start an expansion program and new elevators were built at the Cooperative's locations in Mitchell County. Included in the expansion were new service stations, plus new fertilizer facilities and bulk fueling sites.
In the late 1960s, the Cooperative expanded into Lincoln County. Due to this expansion, a committee was appointed to find a new name for the Mitchell County Farmers Union Co-op Association. In 1968 a contest was held with 300 possible names submitted. Of those 300 names, three were recommended to the Board of Directors.
The unanimous decision was on Farmway Co-op, Inc. Farmway Co-op, Inc. has come a long way since that first meeting in the Mitchell County Courthouse in October 1910.
 Two former Farmway Co-op general managers, John Shulte (general manager from 1935 to 1969) and Fritz Gwin (general manager from 1969 to 1986) showed the leadership qualities to be elected and serve as Board Chairman of the regional cooperative Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, board of directors. Retired CEO Byron Ulery (1986-2002) was the recipient of the distinguished Dreyer Award from Farmland Industries in December 1995. The Dreyer Award was established in 1969 in honor of Frank Dreyer, a director of the Adams County Consumers Cooperative in Brighton, CO. The Dreyer family established the award to recognize a general manager in the Farmland System who best demonstrates leadership and management ability resulting in the steady growth of a local cooperative. Byron Ulery retired from Farmway Co-op on March 29, 2002.
Bob Fifield was CEO of Farmway Co-op on April 1, 2002 through Aug, 31, 2007.
Art Duerksen was hired as CEO and started with Farmway Co-op on February 4, 2008 and continues to lead the Cooperative into the next decade.
The year 2010 marks the 99th Anniversary of Farmway Co-op, Inc.
|
|
|
