Director Tim Boring of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development presented the 2025 Agriculture Exporter of the Year Award to Cooperative Elevator Company at a ceremony in Pigeon on Tuesday.
Founded in 1915, the farmer-owned cooperative works with more than 1,100 grower-owners and processes navy, small red, black and pinto beans, along with organic grains including food grade soybeans and white wheat.
"Cooperative Elevator Co. is Michigan's Agriculture Exporter of the Year thanks to their team's hard work and longstanding commitment to increasing international sales of grain and dry beans," Boring said.
The company began exporting in the 1960s with navy bean shipments to Europe. Today, most exports go to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, with additional markets in Canada, South America and Japan.
"It is a great honor to be named the 2025 Michigan Ag Exporter of the Year," said Cooperative Elevator CEO Scott Gordon. "Our exports of well over $50 million in the last year help return additional value to our patrons through broad market access."
The cooperative employs over 200 people across multiple locations in Michigan's Thumb region and through subsidiaries in Washington, North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada.
Michigan set a new agriculture export sales record of $2.9 billion in 2024.
