Meadowland Farmers Coop

Meadowland Farmers Coop held their Annual Meeting on Monday, November 24th at the American Legion in Lamberton. Over 160 people were in attendance. Member/Owners were updated on another good year for the Co-op with over $7.9 million of local income and $10.9 million of total income realized for Fiscal 2025. Director elections were held with Ben Schmidt of Redwood Falls, Mike Osland of Storden, and Lucus Amundson of Ivanhoe elected to Director positions. Members were also informed that Meadowland retired over $3.2 million in Local Patronage to its member/owners in Fiscal 2025 which has put Meadowland at a ten-year revolvement of Local Patronage.

Brian Hicks, Meadowland’s Board President commented, “Meadowland is and has always been committed to getting cash back to our member/owners to allow them to share in the success of their Co-op! We feel the ten-year revolvement is important to allow our member/owners to realize that their Co-op is committed to getting their share of the profits to them in a timely manner. Meadowland has paid out millions of dollars to its members over its history in Local Patronage, Regional Patronage, Age 72 Retirements, and Estates.”

Attendees were also updated on a merger opportunity and why Meadowland decided to walk away after doing their due diligence. It was clear that differences in management priorities and struggling financial performance wouldn’t bring value to Meadowland’s member/owners or employees. GM Mike Trosen, who will be retiring at the end of December thanked the Board of Directors for hiring him eight and half years ago, the Meadowland employees for their commitment to providing customers competitively priced and quality products and services, and to the Meadowland patrons for their commitment to their Co-op. “It has been a great honor to manage Meadowland,” commented Trosen. New GM Darin Abel was introduced, and took over the day-to-day management of Meadowland on December 1st.

Board of Director photo:
Front row (L to R): Mike Trosen – General Manager, Terry Quiring – Vice President, Brian Hicks – President, Dusty Van DeWiele, Brian Schmidt

Back row (L to R): Mark Meulebroeck, Doug Krentz, Lucas Amundson – Sec/Treas, Mike Osland, Ben Schmidt, Darin Abel – New General Manager