ORANGE, VA, June 19, 2024—EverGRO Cooperative, headquartered in Orange, Virginia, held its annual business meeting on June 19, 2024, at the Gordonsville Fire House. More than 150 coop members, interested public, and staff attended the event that featured a free meal prepared by Summy’s Catering and over $5,000 in door prizes. It also featured a special guest speaker, Mr. Charles Spencer, Executive Director of Government Relations for Growmark.
The cooperative’s Board President, James Kean, conducted the business meeting. EverGRO General Manager, Justin Dreckman, gave the annual report on the state of the company. In addition to the financial report for fiscal year 2023, his presentation included a review of the agronomy, energy, feed, and retail divisions of the coop.
“Thanks to our loyal member—owners, the company remains strong financially,” said Dreckman. “We are pleased to return more than $251K in patronage to our membership. 50% in cash payments to be distributed in June. We continue to strive to build on all available resources to create positive customer experiences while growing profits for members and the cooperative.”
Dreckman went on to describe some of the improvements the company has made over the past year as well as plans for the future. The largest of the completed projects was the construction of a 240,000-gallon refined fuels bulk plant at the Orange, Virginia, facility. As for future plans, he talked about the new custom drone application service and upgrades to the 5-Farm Store locations.
Chuck Spencer was the special guest speaker for the meeting. He is the Executive Director of Government Relations for Growmark, EverGRO FS cooperative partner. He discussed legislative issues that affect farmers in Virginia and the agriculture industry as a whole. He encouraged everyone to stay informed about what the government is doing concerning agriculture and to be sure to vote for favorable candidates.
Spencer has more than 28 years of professional experience in state and federal legislative and regulatory affairs. In his current position, he is responsible for developing, leading and administering the government relations team that involves corporate legislative and regulatory activities and programs for the GROWMARK System.
Board elections were held prior to the meeting with announcements being made during the business session. The EverGRO FS Cooperative Board of Directors consists of nine voting members from 3 districts in the trade territory. Three positions were up for election. Robert “Bob” Chambers and James Kean were reelected to Districts 2 and 3. Wayne Tatum was elected as the At-Large representative.
About EverGRO FS Cooperative
EverGRO FS®, based in Orange, Virginia, is one of central Virginia’s leading agriculture cooperatives, providing quality products and superior services in agronomy, energy, animal health, and farm supplies from Farm Stores located in Orange, Madison, Louisa, Front Royal, and Upperville. The Orange Madison Cooperative, established in 1933, merged with the Front Royal/Upperville Cooperative to form the EverGRO brand in 2022 and reflects the growing territory that the cooperative now covers. EverGRO Cooperative also adopted the FS® brand as part of its image upgrade to notate their membership affiliation with the Growmark Cooperative System. Visit EverGROFS.com for more information.
About Growmark, Inc.
GROWMARK is an agricultural cooperative serving almost 400,000 customers across North America, providing agronomy, energy, facility engineering and construction, and logistics products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk management services. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK owns the FS trademark, which is used by member cooperatives. More information is available at GROWMARK.com.