A solid financial base isn’t an end result—it's a beginning. At FCS, we serve our customers well with resources responsibly built over generations. In 2007 we celebrated our cooperative's 100th anniversary, a tribute to strong financial management.We accept a second century's new challenges invigorated by the innovative spirit alive in today’s agriculture. Will the journey always be easy? No. Will we remain committed to the clear-headed focus that guided our forebearers? Absolutely!

Who has time to get veterinary supplies when you're tending to the farm? FarmVet.com understands and offers thousands of discounted name-brand animal-health products and farm supplies for livestock, horses, and pets throughout the US via its Web site. The company distributes more than 50,000 products, including dietary supplements, grooming supplies, insecticides, and tools, from its warehouse facility in Tennessee. It has separate category devoted to equine products. In addition to its online store, FarmVet also has a printed catalog, and operates mobile retail units that travel throughout the year to select horse show venues.

Every Farnam® product is backed by a deep commitment to animal health care dating back to our founding in 1946. For decades, we’ve been the undisputed leader in horse care. And today, our reputation for innovative product development, thorough research, high production standards and competitive pricing has made us a dominant force in the pet care industry. We’re a company that not only works closely with veterinarians and other professionals in animal care, but listens to the needs of animal owners. Many of our products have been influenced by feedback and suggestions from animal lovers just like you. We’re a company that partners with organizations created by and for pet and equine enthusiasts.And we’re a company that shares the very same joys and concerns of our customers. Most of Farnam’s employees cherish pets of their own – and many are also horse people.

When co-ops work co-operatively, you wind up with organizations like Federated Co-Operatives Limited -- a co-op of co-ops. The company provides retail and administrative services to its some 1,300,000 individual owner/members, which are made up of about 265 retail cooperatives located across western Canada. Federated's members run the gamut and include co-op's made up of food stores, pharmacies, clothing stores, general merchandisers, building material enterprises, crop and feed suppliers, gas stations, convenience stores, and travel services. Federated members have access petroluem products through the co-op's refiner CCRL; they can also buy groceries through Federated's food operations, The Grocery People.

If Old MacDonald actually had a farm, he'd want to be a member of the Five Star Cooperative. Operating in north-central and northeast Iowa, Five Star has operations in more than 15 small to midsized towns in the Hawkeye State. The cooperative is divided into five divisions, according to the products and services offered -- agronomy, petroleum (diesel fuel and home heating oil), feed (for beef cattle and swine), grain, and hardware -- it operates a True Value hardware store in New Hampton that offers all the usual hardware products and services. Established in 1916, Five Star Cooperative provides a full complement for its member/farmers.

While homemakers are busy making chapati, roti, and pooris, Food Corporation of India (FCI) stays busy managing India's grain supplies. FCI buys and markets wheat and rice for the Indian government, purchasing both domestically grown and imported grains, keeping the stockpiles in its own warehouses. Through periodic sales, FCI controls and manages the domestic grain supply, regulating the market prices for those commodities. It also provides some of its stores of grain to government-subsidized food programs, and it builds up buffer stocks to meet any food crisis. One of Asia's largest companies, FCI operates under the direction of the Indian government's Food Ministry. It was founded in 1965.

Fowler Packing Company was established in 1950 by Sam Parnagian, and through the years has grown and expanded under the active management of Sam’s four sons and other family members. Today, Fowler Packing is one of the largest shippers in the fresh produce business, handling over 8 million boxes of stone fruit, table grapes, and mandarins. More than two-thirds of the fruit is owned and farmed by the Parnagian Family, with the balance coming from experienced and dedicated growers closely associated with the business.

Despite what your toddler says at bedtime, good things do come out of the dark. Franklin Organic Mushrooms, which does business as Franklin Farms, has sprouted into one of the top growers and harvester of certified organic mushrooms in the US. The company's mushroom crop, grown completely without pesticides, includes agaricus (white "button" mushrooms), portabella, shiitake, crimini, oyster, enoki, beech, and maitake. It also produces meat-alternative vegetarian products made from soy and mushrooms, including Veggiburgers, Veggiballs, Veggidogs, and Chick'n Nuggets. The company was founded in 1983.

Fresh Del Monte Produce expects to be squeezed and sniffed. Sniff and squeeze away -- the success of the company's Del Monte Gold Extra Sweet-branded pineapples have made it one of the world's largest fresh pineapple producers and marketers; it is also one of the world's top banana producers, and offers a full array of vegetables and other fruits. Fresh Del Monte's brand names include Del Monte, Rosy, and UTC. Its prepared and fresh-cut foods include potato salad, cole slaw, bagged sliced products, and fruit juices and fruit drinks; it also makes industrial fruit products (purees, pulps, and concentrates) for food manufacturing companies. Fresh Del Monte sells its fruit and vegetables in more than 90 countries.

Fresh Quest is on a mission to bring produce from Central America into the US. Primarily dealing in melons (cantaloupe, watermelon, and honey dew), the company grows fruits and vegetables on farms in Honduras and Guatemala and distributes its products throughout North America. The company's other products include peaches, plums, grapes, mangoes, nectarines, cucumbers, and asparagus. Fresh Quest was founded in 1993.

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