The Farmway Co-op, Inc. membership has voted to approve unification with Central Valley Ag (CVA). After a series of 13 informational voting sessions, accounting firm K-COE ISOM certified the owners of Farmway approved the merger with CVA by a super majority of 91%. The unified cooperative will retain the Central Valley Ag name and be headquartered in York, Neb. with Carl Dickinson serving as President/CEO.
“We are pleased that Farmway members have voted to unify CVA and Farmway. Both Boards felt strongly that unification would bring additional value to the members of both cooperatives and the results of the Farmway vote reaffirms this,” said Dave Beckman, CVA Board Chairman. “Central Valley Ag cooperative has a proud history on which the foundation has been laid for building a promising future of service to its members in agriculture.”
Initial merger discussions between the cooperatives began in January 2017, with the respective boards meeting in April to unanimously approve an Agreement and Plan of Merger. Farmway voting members received ballots at informational voting sessions throughout May and June with the final tally of votes completed June 8.
“We are confident that together, we will become an even stronger cooperative for our member-owners with the ability to maintain local farmer-ownership for generations to come,” said Tim Porter, Farmway Board Chairman. “On behalf of our boards, management and employees, we appreciate each and every member who cast a ballot which made today’s announcement possible.”
Farmway and CVA will officially unite into one cooperative September 1, 2017. The new Central Valley Ag will consist of locations across Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas with more than 800 employees dedicated to serving its producer-owners. The cooperative offers a wide range of products, services, information and innovation through its agronomy, energy, feed and grain divisions to meet the needs of agricultural producers across the region.
To learn more, visit cvacoop.com or farmwaycoop.com.