In the early 1920s, the Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB), originally known as the Indiana Federation of Farmers’ Associations, joined with the Indiana State Grange and the Indiana Farmers Grain Dealers Association to form the Federated Marketing Service. This cooperative (co-op) was established with the intention of growing into a great united farmers’ service organization that completed both purchasing and marketing activities for Indiana farmers. The spirit of cooperation and mutual confidence that originally existed within the organization quickly dissipated, however, and resulted in both the Grange and Grain Dealers Association voluntarily leaving the Federated Marketing Service by 1923.
With sole control of the organization, the Indiana Farm Bureau decided to place the Federated Marketing Service into the purchasing department of INFB. Farm Bureau leaders soon determined that a better buying and selling program was needed, which led to the creation of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association (IFBCA) in 1926. This co-op, owned and controlled by local farmers and their member associations, proved more successful than its predecessors. Harvey Hull, a LaPorte County farmer, was the first manager to preside over the 27 local co-ops that made up the Indianapolis-based statewide cooperative system.
IFBCA’s role was to purchase and sell many of the products that farmers needed to do their jobs. The association owned a seed plant and manufactured plant food as well as sold farm machinery. It also bought oil wells and became a petroleum producer. Over time, the co-op grew and extended its services in many areas, with nearly every county having a Farm Bureau Co-op grain elevator and feed and supply store.
By the early 1950s, IFBCA’s annual sales were $120 million. They reached $250 million in 1970, making the co-op one of the largest businesses in the state. The association was also one of the most diversified, marketing 80 million bushels of grain a year in addition to overseeing feed mills, lumber yards, fertilizer factories, refineries, and hatcheries.
In the 1980s, a shrinking base of farmers and low commodity prices forced IFBCA to slash employment in half, discontinue several product lines, and suspend dividend payments. After three unprofitable years, the co-op began an aggressive marketing strategy, showing a profit of $1.7 million in 1986 and $6.8 million the following year.
On September 1, 1991, IFBCA merged with Countrymark, Inc., a Delaware, Ohio-based corporation, to form a tri-state agricultural cooperative in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Countrymark, Inc. started business on May 1, 1985, following the merger to two regional cooperatives in Ohio, The Ohio Farmers Grain and Supply Association (established in 1929) and Landmark, Inc. (established in 1934). It later purchased many assets of Agra Land, Inc., a regional headquartered in Lansing, Michigan.
The 1991 merger between IFBCA and Countrymark Inc. resulted in a slightly new but still recognizable name, Countrymark Cooperative, Inc. (shortened to CountryMark). Indianapolis was selected for the co-op’s headquarters with a regional office maintained in Delaware, Ohio, to provide select administrative functions and technical support.
CountryMark reported revenues of $1.9 billion in 1992, ranking it as Indiana’s largest privately held company. During this time, the co-op employed almost 2,000 people worldwide, with 500 working in Indianapolis at the corporation’s headquarters, grain terminals, feed mills, and soil testing facilities.
The latter half of the 1990s brought change and turmoil for CountryMark. Along with its new president, David Swanson, came a sudden series of purchases and deals. The company bought Buckeye Feed Mills as well as Malta Clayton in 1996. By the following year, the company sold part of its Buckeye holdings that it had just purchased and later made partnerships with Growmark, Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland. In addition to these deals, around 280 employees left the company through retirement buyouts. The last major development from this period was Swanson’s resignation from CountryMark in September 1997 after intense disagreements about how to run the company as well as allegations of fraud. He was later sentenced to prison for fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in 2002.
By the 2000s, Archer Daniels Midland took over the grain segment of CountyMark, and Land O’Lakes bought out the feed, seed, and fertilizer segments. With just the refineries and pipelines left, CountryMark focused solely on oil exploration, production, refining, and marketing. By 2006, the company’s sales reached nearly $900 million, and it became the second local oil company to be ranked at the top of Indiana’s largest corporations.
CountryMark provides crude oil, biodiesel and ethanol-blended fuels, and lubricants. It operates over 900 oil wells, runs a refinery in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and owns 238 miles of pipeline. The co-op operates solely in the oil business but maintains its origins as a farmer-owned cooperative and is one of the largest agricultural cooperatives in the United States. While Indiana Farm Bureau was a crucial part of forming some of the services that the corporation still provides, INFB has no formal affiliation with CountryMark or Land O’ Lakes.
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