History
The Dodge City Cooperation Exchange, Inc. was formed in 1914 in Dodge City, Kansas. The first facility was one purchased that year consisting of a wood grain elevator and coal bins. From this humble beginning through mergers, acquisitions and expansion the Coop today has 15 grain facilities with attached businesses and two stand alone agronomy locations, an ACE Hardware store and ownership in a multitude of other ventures.
Employing more than 120 full-time employees with a payroll in excess of $6 million the company is a major area employer providing many vital services to the communities it serves. Grain, feed, agronomy, farm supply, energy, hardware and car care are major service areas.
Unique among Cooperatives is our governance which allows for the election of all of our directors each year representing the membership. Currently, we have seven elected directors and two associate directors who are appointed by elected directors.
The growth of the Cooperative now encompasses what were 11 different Cooperatives that have joined together over the years. Included are facilities with 18 million bushels of storage for grains, a grain shuttle loader / unloader, a dry fertilizer facility with 24,000 tons of capacity and numerous other enterprises. Our members have invested more than $45 million in local assets and have additional investments of $5 million. Having 5,500 members and more than 2,000 voting members, we have one of the largest memberships in Kansas.
Sales for the principle business entity are $100 million and with subsidiaries another $25 million of sales go through the Cooperative books annually.
Other entities the Dodge City Cooperative is involved in:
Southwest Crop Nutrients LLC - our dry fertilizer building owned in conjunction with Agriliance and five other local Coops. We provide management oversight, rail services, accounting services and labor to staff the facility. Our ownership is 1/3 of this LLC.
Southwest Guidance LLC - providers of a corrective GPS signal to SW Kansas jointly owned by Kan Equip in Dodge City.
AV Energy LLC - our energy business 54 percent by Dodge City Coop having joined with two other Coops in 2005 to gain the efficiencies needed to continue profitable operations.
ATP LLC - offering brokerage services to area producers and agricultural businesses.
