Cooperative Farmer's Elevator won the Kirk Grau Innovation Award at a September partner meeting of Northwest Iowa Development, reports NWestIowa.com.
The award is named for the former Osceola County, Iowa, development director who died in 2013.
CFE received the honor for its feed mill project in Ocheyedan. The co-op implemented new technology to better sort and process its grain. The result is a higher yield, more consistent product and overall higher-quality mill for farmers.
The co-op boasts 3,000 members and 26 locations stretching from Rushmore, MN, to Jefferson, SD.
Northwest Iowa Development reported that the mill project, which started in 2019, helped create 19 jobs, $1 million in new payroll and about $26 million in taxable value.
CFE CEO Rob Jacobs told NWestIowa.com that his group is committed to improving all its feed mills.
“It’s not only Ocheyedan,” Jacobs said. “As we look across our territory and our reinvestment in facilities to serve our customers today and in the future, it’s incredibly important we continue to invest in the future of agriculture.
"I can’t say enough how much it’s worth to us as a cooperative working the communities that we’re in.”
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Going Whole Hog ... To meet the region’s growing needs, Cooperative Farmer’s Elevator (CFE) recently built a state-of-the-art feed mill in Ocheyedan, IA — about 20 miles south of the Minnesota border. The new mill more than triples the first mill’s capacity, capable of producing 3,000 tons of feed daily.
