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Landus, FSC sign purchase agreement for sale of Oakland

Pottawattamie County assets and office slated to transition to FSC ownership pre-harvest

OAKLAND — Local farmer-owned cooperative officials last week announced a purchase agreement has been signed for the sale of the Oakland, Iowa Landus Cooperative agronomy plant to be sold to Farm Service Cooperative.

The purchase between Ames-based Landus Cooperative and Harlan-based FSC is slated to close Aug. 31.

As a result, all physical assets and the property at 41938 Industrial Drive just north of Oakland will join FSC’s local operations.

“FSC is excited to add this state-of-the-art agronomy site to better serve our members and customers in Pottawattamie County,” stated Gary Jahn, executive vice president at FSC.

The soon-to-be-acquired site includes an automated dry fertilizer blending system, automated seed system, 42,000 gallons of NH3 storage, a variety of bulk agronomy storage and the office. Current inventory, application machines, tender trucks and NH3 rolling stock are not part of the purchase agreement.

“This sale is a good move for both cooperatives,” stated Milan Kucerak, CEO of Landus Cooperative. “The acquisition of our Oakland site aligns well with FSC’s current customer base while allowing us to focus our capital in core geographies of our business.”

FSC’s focus will remain in the farm supply business, maintaining eight agronomy locations, an energy division, feed division, and a retail computer store.

Landus Cooperative has three full-time and four part-time employees who will end their employment on Aug. 31. They have been offered an opportunity to apply for employment with FSC.

Growers who are members of either cooperative will not see a change in their membership status as a result of the change. Landus Cooperative will work with its Oakland-area customers to finalize work and invoicing on or before August 31, 2017 at which point those customers may choose to do business with FSC at the same location.

Landus Cooperative and FSC have a multi-year grain marketing agreement for FSC’s locations in Harlan and Denison which is unchanged by the Oakland sale.

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