Key Cooperative

Key Cooperative is an agricultural cooperative that describes itself as a group of like-minded farmers joined together to help each other succeed, empowering member-owners to buy products at competitive prices, gain access to new markets, enhance bargaining power and bolster yields. It provides agronomy, energy, feed and grain services, and its roots stretch back to 1918 when local farmers pooled resources to purchase goods and services and collectively market their grain. Its feed operations include a high-capacity mill in Grinnell and a second mill in Gilbert, and it is a Certified Expert Dealer for Purina feeds and a local supplier of Quality Liquid Feeds.

Key Cooperative's roots stretch back to 1918, when local farmers pooled their resources to purchase goods and services they needed to run their businesses, and to collectively market their grain. A timeline on the cooperative's history page records that in 1918 farmers met for the purpose of forming a farmer's elevator (Farmers Co-op Company), and C.A. Lindroth was hired as first manager at a salary of $125.00 per month. In 1922 the board of directors voted to discontinue handling coal, flour and feed and buy only grain. Subsequent timeline entries include a creamery opening in Sully in 1930, approval to build a service station in Sully in 1941, a feed mill built in Roland in 1944, a lumber department approved in 1949, a feed mill built in McCallsburg in 1951, plans for a new elevator and mill in Sully in 1955, a 130,000 bu elevator built in Roland in 1956, discontinuation of the coal business in Sully in 1962, acquisition of Gilbert Cooperative Company in 1963, a ready-mix plant built in Sully with three cement trucks purchased in 1964, purchase of Zearing Elevator in 1965, a new dry fertilizer plant built in Roland in 1967, a 79,000 bu. steel grain storage bin built in Sully in 1969, sale of all creamery equipment in Sully in 1970, James Huyser hired as first official General Manager of SCE (who later passed away that year), a Nevada location built in 1974-76, acquisition of Farmers Co-operative Company (McCallsburg) in 1981, establishment of Roland Transport in 1983, and a merger with Farmers in 1984. By the 1960s, ag co-ops were purchasing the specialized equipment needed to handle and apply crop nutrients as well as new types of chemical crop protection coming to market.

Your essential business partner — committed to providing exceptional customer-focused solutions and serving as a trusted resource and irreplaceable asset.

• Agronomy services

  From seed and crop protection to conservation and precision ag, Key Cooperative offers research-proven recommendations to optimize crop performance.

• Energy solutions

  Reliable service and a variety of options so homes, farms or businesses remain fueled all year long.

• Feed

  High-quality animal nutrition; high-capacity mill in Grinnell manufactures and delivers bulk feed for swine, dairy and poultry operations, and a second mill in Gilbert produces texturized bagged and bulk feeds for beef, dairy, poultry, sheep and goats.

• Grain services

  Grain services including free price later available at all Key locations except the Grinnell Feed Mill, as space is available.

1. 1Agronomy, Grain, Energy & Feed Services - Key Cooperativekeycoop.com
2. 2Our History | More Than a Century of Shared Success - Key Cooperativekeycoop.com
3. 3About Us | Your Essential Business Partner - Key Cooperativekeycoop.com
4. 4Feed | Quality Nutrition for Livestock & Pets - Key Cooperativekeycoop.com