Cooperative Elevator Company Expands with MDARD FAIP Grant

Cooperative Elevator Company is a corn, wheat, dry bean, and soybean elevator business. They have expanded and grown in size and capacity over more than 100 years of business. The Cooperative has expanded to include multiple locations in Pigeon, Akron, Fairgrove, Gagetown, Elkton, Sebewaing, Ruth, and Deckerville. Their products come from 1,115 family-operated farms and are shipped across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Africa, England, Europe, Brazil, and Central America. In 2013, the company reached its highest grain storage capacity of 21.2 million bushels. This company has a proud and rich history, continuously working to expand and improve for the farmers, patrons and customers they serve.

Along the way, the Cooperative has earned multiple grant funds to expand operations successfully. This includes funds from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MDARD) Food and Agriculture Investment Program Grant. With the funding from MDARD, the Cooperative completed an expansion project to improve productivity and its ability to meet customers' expanding and changing needs.

This expansion project added a high-capacity processing and wash line into an existing bean plant. The addition of the wash line tripled the production capabilities of the site, added 30,000 square feet to the finished product warehouse, and created four new positions. This $8 million project was important because of the demands of approximately 30 percent of the Cooperative’s customer base that require the washing of the beans prior to shipment.

This project doubled the washing capabilities, allowing the Cooperative to meet a demand that was twice what the current capacity had been. In addition to increasing washing capacity, this project brought equipment that included newer technologies to improve the stability and safety of the product while it is enroute. It provides an effective alternative to clean beans that saves water and eliminates drying time for other orders. The food safety aspects of this project and the wellbeing of employees are two of the pillars of the Cooperative’s business platform, and this project increased the effectiveness of its programs in both.

"This program has been very beneficial to our Cooperative's goal of providing the best return to our membership by being leaders in the dry bean industry," said Caleb Sundblad, Vice President of Dry Beans and Specialty Crops.

Through the assistance from MDARD and other grant programs, Cooperative Elevator Company has been able to maintain its position as market leaders in the exportation of black beans. It has grown its presence with several new importers in at least three countries. This has also led to the expansion of business with many of the largest quick-serve restaurant chains in North America.

MDARD’s Food and Agriculture Investment Program Grant provides financial support for projects that help expand food and agriculture processing to enable growth in the industry and Michigan’s economy. Projects are selected based on their impact on the overall agriculture industry and food and agriculture growth and investment in the state.

For more information about MDARD grants, visit www.Michigan.gov/MDARDGrants.

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