NEW Cooperative is a remarkable success story. By just about any measure, it is an enormous enterprise. It has grown significantly in the last year and is poised to strengthen its position in the agricultural economy in the years just ahead.

As 2016 begins, the cooperative has a new general manager at the helm. Dan Dix succeeded Brent Bunte in that post in October 2015. Dix said continuity in leadership has been a huge benefit to the organization.

“Brent was the second general manager NEW has ever had,” Dix said. “He was general manager for 19 years.”

Dix has been part of the leadership team for nearly two decades as the agronomy division manager.

The cooperative was born through the merger of the Badger and Vincent co-ops, hence the original name – North East Webster Cooperative, now usually shortened to NEW Cooperative Inc. More than four decades later, there are approximately 4,000 farmer and landowner members. They are its owners and select its board of directors. With administrative headquarters in Fort Dodge at 2626 First Ave. S., NEW Cooperative has 36 operative locations throughout north central and western Iowa and is one of the Hawkeye State’s largest agricultural cooperatives.

A few numbers help illustrate just how big this entity has become. Dix said its annual sales could reach $1 billion this year. He put the volume of corn and soybeans it handles each year at 125 million bushels. According to Dix, it has invested more than $160 million into facilities and equipment during the past five years. The cooperative has an employee team that numbers about 500.

NEW Cooperative is one of the Hawkeye State’s largest agricultural co-ops. Dix said where it ranks depends on which of several measures of size one chooses.

“If you judge it by profitability we’re probably No. 1,” he said. “If you judge it by locations we’re probably No. 4. If you judge it by sales, we’re probably No. 3 or No. 4.”

NEW Cooperative is big, but its leaders stress that it remains as faithful to its core mission as it was when the undertaking was in its infancy.

“We don’t try to see how big we can get,” Dix said. “We try to be the best. Big isn’t always better.”

Dix has a clear vison of what being “best” entails.

“It means being a place people like to work,” he said. “Being a place people stick around a long time. Having the support of a loyal customer base that allows you to have high market shares and be more efficient. Making money. I’m very proud of how well we’ve done in terms of our dividends we can pay back. That’s another reason people want to be part of a cooperative – sharing the profits. The profits go three places. They go back to the owners. They go into infrastructure. Or they maintain a strong balance sheet. They can’t go anywhere else. That’s different than private ownership.”

Simply put, this member-owned grain, agronomy and feed cooperative seeks to make its members’ agricultural operations more successful than they would be were they not part of this collaborative endeavor.

This is accomplished through provision of an array of services and products that include grain storage and marketing; quality feed, fertilizer, crop protection and seed resources; and agronomic opportunities in soil mapping, site-specific field management and use of precision technology.

Both members and nonmembers buy products and services from the cooperative.

“We’ve got over 2,000 products or services that we can sell to a farmer,” Dix said.

Changing world

The agricultural marketplace has changed greatly since NEW Cooperative was launched.

“In the 1950s there were over 700 different co-ops in Iowa,” Dix said. “Today there about 58 and consolidations are really going rapidly right now. I don’t know how many there will be when it’s over but there are not going to be a lot. I don’t expect consolidation to slow down.”

In 2015, this trend was reflected at NEW cooperative. Western Iowa Co-op shareholders voted to join NEW with an eye to delivering even better buying power and technology services to farmers in the area surrounding Blencoe, Correctionville, Hornick, Mapleton, Onawa, Pierson, Sloan, Turin, Washta and Whiting.

Dix said that merger added 10 locations and about 850 members to the cooperative.

Getting bigger, however, doesn’t mean NEW cooperative has forgotten its community roots.

“One thing we really try to strive for is to keep the local locations autonomous, make them feel that Fort Dodge is a support center for them. The Fort Dodge staff exists to assist each one of our locations. If we can do that, everybody wins,” Dix said. “I think we continue to maintain that hometown feel.”

Giving back

One of the ways NEW Cooperative supports the communities where it does business is through philanthropy. The NEW Cooperative Foundation, which was created in 2011, is a major source of financial support for worthy endeavors. Helping area communities prosper economically and also remain good places to live are priorities at NEW Cooperative, Dix said.

“We support the local fire departments,” he said providing an example of where foundation monies are directed. “We support the 4-H clubs. We give $10 for each 4-H member to help defray the cost of being in 4-H for every 4-H club in every community that we’re in.”

Dix said the foundation allocates in the neighborhood of $200,000 each year to support an array of projects.

Scholarships are also part of the philanthropic agenda.

“We have a scholarship program that we’ve had for many years,” Dix said. “We target kids going into the agricultural fields specifically.”

Meet Dan Dix

Dix grew up on a family farm near Waverly and graduated from Waverly-Shell Rock High School in 1984. Then it was on to Iowa State University, from which he graduated in 1988. Dix majored in agricultural studies with minors in economics and agronomy.

Dix said since college he has had three jobs. They all have been with cooperatives.

“Each time I moved, I just had more responsibility,” he said.

Dix joined the leadership team at NEW Cooperative in 1996.

He said his new role as general manager puts gives him the opportunity to contribute to the cooperative’s success in a broader context than did his previous position.

“I’m able to help the board decide the strategic direction of the company,” he said. “We’ve got a very forward-thinking board of directors that can plan ahead for what we need to service the customer.”

Dix said his career in agriculture has been rewarding.

“Offering the producers lots of different choices when it comes to servicing their needs has been satisfying,” he said, noting that he enjoys working with farmers.