About New Vision Co-op
With roots reaching back to 1901, New Vision Co-op serves more than 2,000 member-owners in southwest Minnesota, northwest Iowa and eastern South Dakota from 18 locations. Founded by farmers and based on member ownership, our primary focus has always been the success of our farmers. That focus is captured in New Vision’s mission statement:
“New Vision Co-op is a progressive, ethical cooperative providing quality goods and services and innovative technologies, with the vision to remain financially strong, competitive in the marketplace and committed to its members’ success.”
New Vision’s values drive how we conduct business every day:
Safety
Maintaining an environment that promotes the health and well-being of our employees and customers.
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Integrity
Always do the right thing.
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Unity
Working together as a team to produce effective results.
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Ownership
Holding each other accountable and being proud to share our purpose.
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Progressive
Providing innovative strategies and solutions for our stakeholders.
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Community
Having a positive impact in the areas where we live and serve.
Our History
New Vision Coop’s roots can be traced back to the early 1900s to our predecessor cooperatives. Local cooperatives organized in Worthington (1910), Brewster and Dundee (before 1914), and Org and Reading (1914) merged to form Consolidated Coop in 1968. Local cooperatives organized in Mountain Lake (1901), Jeffers (1904), Heron Lake (1904) and Windom (1905) merged to form Prairieland in 1986.
These early cooperatives were capitalized by selling stock in order to secure financing to purchase the privately-owned elevator. They handled coal, twine, oats, barley, wheat, rye, flax, shell corn, ear corn, timothy, mustard, wool, buckwheat and made feed in their early days. Windom also handled cement!
Celebrating 25 Years
Changes
In 1998, Prairieland Coop and Consolidated Coop members exercised their membership responsibility and voted YES to form New Vision Co-op. Prairieland Coop and Consolidated Coop were almost identical operations:
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Both operated agronomy, feed and grain departments.
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Both were on the Union Pacific Railroad.
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Both were similar in sales, profitability and equity.
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Both were successful cooperatives.
Perhaps the most unique feature about the merger vote that formed New Vision Co-op was there was no financial distress, management retirement or equity redemption that motivated the directors or members of either cooperative to approve the merger. They supported the merger with a long-range perspective and expectation that a larger cooperative would be better positioned to provide members with service, technology and competitive markets—and they were correct!
Since New Vision was created, growth has occurred through mergers with Hills–Beaver Creek Coop in 2003 and Wilmont–Adrian Coop in 2011, acquisitions in 2003 and 2017, and greenfield site development at Magnolia in 2012. In 2023, New Vision purchased an additional feed mill located in Mankato.
Looking Ahead
Throughout New Vision’s history, our members have transitioned from horsepower to diesel power, candlelight to LED, party lines to Smartphones, haystacks to Triple Stack, disc markers to GPS and encyclopedias to the Internet. The application of technology in every facet of agriculture has advanced productivity. All of this requires capital to purchase the latest equipment, computers and software and provide employee training to capture value.
New Vision Co-op’s directors, management and employees continue to focus on customer service, providing modern technology and facilities that improve farmers’ efficiency and profitability. Business planning and company policies are built on the solid foundation of the past while considering value creation and risk to assure long-term business sustainability for New Vision Co-op’s 7,450 equity holders.
1968
Worthington (1910), Org (1915), Reading (1915), Brewster (1914) and Dundee (1914) form Consolidated Coop.
1986
Mountain Lake (1901), Heron Lake (1904), Jeffers (1904) and Windom (1905) form Prairieland Coop.
September 1998
New Vision Co-op is formed by Consolidated Coop and Prairieland membership vote.
2003
Hills Elevator Purchase
March 2003
Hills-Beaver Creek Coop merges into New Vision Co-op.
September 2008
Bought Equity Supply, elevators and feed mills in Mankato and Courtland. Sold in 2015.
September 2011
Wilmont, Adrian Coop merge into New Vision Co-op.
2012
Magnolia Elevator and Feed Mill Built
2017
Alpha (Sold in 2024) , Marna and Miloma Elevator Purchases.
2023
Mankato Feed Mill Purchase
Sale of Marna location