Employee appreciation night goes to the movies

Toy Story III and a barbecue chicken dinner at the Hanover Drive-in theatre was this year’s summer staff appreciation event for North Wellington Co-operative employees. Each year for the past four years, Kelly Boyle, general manager of North Wellington Co-operative Services has planned a mid-summer event that involves good food, entertainment and socializing for all employees and their families.

The co-operative rented out the Drive-in property making it exclusive to just the North Wellington Co-op group. More than 150 employees, their children and spouses came out for the evening. “It is not very often employees from each branch get to mingle and meet each other’s families like this,” says Boyle. “It helps connect the branches as one big team,” he adds.

A beautiful sunset was the entertainment even before the real show started at the Hanover Drive-In for North Wellington Co-op’s staff appreciation night.

Ontario’s advocacy efforts do pay off

Since November of 2008 The Ontario FS Co-operatives Government Relations Committee with the assistance from the Ontario Co-operative Association has been hard at work raising awareness and addressing several key challenges facing Ontario’s agricultural co-ops, and in particular FS co-ops by communicating directly to members of the provincial parliament and other public policy figures.

In recent months, committee members have met with key Ministries such as Finance and Energy, as well as with MPP Carol Mitchell (the new Minister of Agriculture). Among topics discussed were: the impact of punitive property tax classifications on Ontario’s commercial grain elevators, requesting support for the local food movement through adoption of a “buy-in-Ontario” preference in government food service procurement, the need for government to work with Ontario co-operatives to develop new renewable energy initiatives, and the negative effect of the proposed Consolidated Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste program (CMHSW) on Ontario farmers.

Recently, the Ontario Agri Business Association (OABA) was successful in negotiating an agreement with all fertilizer stewards that would allow packaged fertilizer for agricultural use to be excluded from the requirements of the CMHSW program. While OABA had spent over a year lobbying the government, Claude Gauthier, GROWMARK Ontario region manager notes the committee was “part of what created the momentum to change the tide.” Jim Campbell, general manager of AGRIS Co-operative Ltd. adds, “I think the FS Government Relations Committee can take some credit in keeping this issue on the political forefront to allow OABA and others to negotiate the right arrangement.”

Corporate GROWMARK’s director of government affairs Chuck Spencer, is part of the Ontario committee and provides guidance in regards to tactics and strategies keeping the agenda in sync with corporate GROWMARK’s viewpoints and goals. Spencer says, “This committee is doing great work and is targeting key issues that will help improve the profitability for farmers keeping us in line with our core values.”

The committee, with the help of advocates from various FS co-operatives across the province, will continue its efforts to move forward with the other key issues, in a concerted effort to make the environment for all agricultural co-operatives more favorable.

As part of the Ontario Co-operative Association’s government relations efforts, an annual reception is held at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto where FS member co-operative representatives attend to meet with MPPs to help educate them on co-ops and discuss how policies affect their future. From L-R Claude Gauthier, GROWMARK Ontario region manager, David Malott, AGRIS Co-operative president, Pat Hoy, Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP, Maria Van Bommel, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP, Denyse Guy, Ontario Co-operative Association executive director and Jim Campbell, AGRIS Co-operative general manager.

FS PARTNERS employees all gather together for one day to learn more about the GROWMARK System

On June 23, FS PARTNERS held an all-employee meeting as a way to introduce its plans and strategic direction going forward.

Jaye Atkins, FS PARTNERS general manager emceed the one-day event and introduced each of the six GROWMARK executives that flew up from Bloomington for the day.

Dennis Farmer, senior vice president, member services & retail, led the group of speakers by providing an overview of GROWMARK operations. Shelly Kruse, vice president, Midwest retail & acquisitions, gave an update on the new developments in the co-op structure of FS PARTNERS and how it will benefit the farmer-customer.

The 175 FS PARTNERS employees who attended also heard presentations from Jeff Solberg, senior vice president of finance, Bill Erlenbush, executive director of corporate compliance, Linda Witmer, human resource & compliance manager (Ontario), Becky Ropp, manager, Career Development, and Jim Hoyt, vice president, strategic planning & corporate services, who has led the strategic planning process for FS PARTNERS for the past several months.

The last speaker of the day was Jaye Atkins who defined the new strategic plan for FS PARTNERS and unveiled its new mission and vision statements among the many marketing and business initiatives it will tackle in the coming months.

FS PARTNERS Mission:

To serve as your leading resource for innovative solutions.

FS PARTNERS Vision:

To be the trusted long-term leader in our business.

Shelly Kruse of GROWMARK awards Scott McKay of FS PARTNERS Harmony branch with $20 cash when he was the first in the audience to recite the new Mission statement for FS PARTNERS

GROWMARK hosts new website training day for FS Ontario marketing staff

On June 16, GROWMARK held its first ever Ontario FS System Website Clinic that offered training and tips to 17 FS marketing assistants throughout Ontario.

Jana Kiefer, GROWMARK’s web publisher travelled up from Bloomington, Illinois for the day to lead the group through a hands-on session with participants each equipped with individual lap tops. Through the help of GROWMARK IT staff, the Kitchener office board room was converted into a professional computer lab training center.

Jana covered a variety of topics on how to set up and navigate through the DTN website module. Participants learned about different design templates, how to navigate properly, and overall site maintenance. After lunch, Terry Stevenson, communication manager for AGRIS Co-operative and Jeff McCallum, communication and marketing specialist for North Wellington Co-operative Services provided the group with some other ideas and examples of enhancements that they have incorporated into their websites.

GROWMARK offers its members a website support program that it manages with DTN. Member co-operatives that sign on to this program will have the added peace-of-mind of having a support contact that can provide the expertise required to produce and maintain a professional looking website as well as some extra value provided by DTN because of its relationship with GROWMARK that may not be available independently.

Marketing assistants from Lucknow District Co-operative, Huron Bay Co-operative, Sunderland Co-operative, North Wellington Co-operative Services, AGRIS Co-operative, FS PARTNERS and Co-operative Regionale de Nipissing Sudbury made the trip to Kitchener to learn more about website development. If you would like more information on GROWMARK's website support program, please contact Jana Kiefer at jkiefer@growmark.com or 309-557-6170.

Blain Thompson (L) and Leonard Woodward from Sunderland Co-operative work on some hands-on examples provided to the group during Ontario's first FS Website Clinic.