CHS, Growmark Collaboration Talks Conclude Without Pursuing Any New Opportunities
Collaboration conversations between CHS and Growmark, two of the nation's largest farmer-owned cooperatives, have concluded. No new opportunities will be pursued at this time.
MT. JULIET, Tenn. (DTN) — CHS and Growmark won’t pursue new collaborations after undergoing formal discussions into a potential merger or other joint business ventures in early 2024.
A CHS spokesperson told DTN the exploratory conversations have concluded, and “it was determined that no new opportunities will be pursued at this time. CHS and Growmark have had a long-standing relationship. In cooperative spirit, our teams have worked and will continue to work collaboratively on key strategic projects in ways that benefit our farmer-owners and customers across both cooperatives.”
CHS and Growmark announced the discussions in January to be fully transparent with the cooperatives’ member-owners (https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/business-inputs/article/2024/01/12/chs-growmark-explore-future-business). At the time, it a CHS spokesperson said the organizations were exploring all options from maintaining the status quo to a complete merger.
CHS is the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative in the U.S., recording revenue of $45.6 billion in 2023. Growmark, which owns the FS trademark that’s common at its locations across the country, generated $14.6 billion of revenue in 2022 and is the nation’s fourth-largest agricultural cooperative, according to the National Cooperative Bank.
The two companies formed a $50 million venture capital fund called Cooperative Ventures in 2021 to support advancements in breakthrough agricultural technologies (https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2021/11/17/farmer-cooperatives-launch-50m-fund). The fund has invested in Earth Optics, a soil data measurement and mapping company, and Sabanto, a hardware and software company developing autonomous capabilities in tractors.
Katie Dehlinger can be reached at katie.dehlinger@dtn.com.
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