If you were to trace the roots of our cooperative, it would take you back to the year 1934. It was at this time that local individuals were starting to form local cooperatives throughout the state of Ohio. Each of the 88 counties in Ohio had their own County Farm Bureau Association. These operations focused on providing quality products, supported by dependable services, at competitive prices.

During the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s change was slow, but ever present. The local cooperatives expanded product lines and offered more services. As time went by, some cooperatives flourished and grew, others struggled to exist. Successful cooperatives adapted to their local environments, and some got even stronger by joining forces with their neighbors. Such was the case with Western Reserve Farm Cooperative.

The first change from a single county operation occurred when Geauga County operations expanded to include Lake County operations. Then the Portage County operations expanded to include the Summit County operations. In the early 80’s, Geauga again expanded their market area by taking on the petroleum operations of the former Trumbull County Farm Bureau. Also in the early 80’s, the Stark County operations were joined with the Portage County Farm Bureau system and was renamed Tri-Landmark Inc.. Then in 1988, the Geauga Landmark system expanded again by bringing the Tri-Landmark operations into theirs. Geauga Landmark had now grown from being a one county operation, into one that served six counties and had annual sales of 12 million dollars. The final piece in forming Western Reserve Farm Cooperative occurred on January 1st, 1990. On this date, the shareholders of the Ashtabula County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association and the Geauga Landmark approved the consolidation of their cooperatives. The new cooperative was named Western Reserve Farm Cooperative, it involved nine facilities, and annual sales grew to more than 20 million dollars.

After being established, Western Reserve Farm Cooperative continued to deal with additional changes. There were times when facilities were sold or shut down, times when new facilities were acquired, and times when the current use of a facility was altered. The facilities that were sold or shut down included a drive-thru at the Massillon Feed (‘91), a retail store in Thompson (’93), a feed mill in Maximo (92), petroleum bulk plants in Ravenna (‘92), Madison (’97) and Chardon (’00), and a retail store in Geneva (’00). The acquisitions included a tank wagon and retail fueling station from the Ainsley Oil Company in Jefferson (’92), a tank wagon fuel business from Rupp Oil in Ravenna (’92), a tank wagon fuel business from Mantua Feed & Grain in Mantua (’92), a retail agronomy operation from Horn’s Crop Service in Andover (’92), a retail store that was remodeled in Middlefield (’96), a new agronomy plant that was built in Middlefield (’98), a lumber company from the Douglass family that had locations in Jefferson and Geneva (’99), a tank wagon fuel business from the Northwest Fuels in Garrettsville (’99), and a fertilizer manufacturing and bagging operation in Andover (‘00). And as noted earlier, in addition to all of the above, most every facility has made significant changes to their product lines and/or the services they provide.

The result - today the Western Reserve Farm Cooperative operates seven facilities, which house five operating divisions - Agronomy, Feed/Grain, Petroleum, Lumber, and Retail - with total sales of approximately 36 million dollars. The cooperative serves members and patrons throughout Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania. Through all the changes, the cooperative’s goal remains - to provide quality products, supported by dependable services, at competitive prices!