About 175 people attended the first of several informational meetings about the potential merger of West Central Cooperative and Farmers Cooperative Company.

Both cooperatives stand to make over $1.3 billion in combined sales, have 690 full time employees and increase its membership to over 7,300.  The closest competition for either cooperative is less than ten miles away.  If the two were to merge, there would be 51 retail locations, which would be more than New Cooperative’s 31 locations as well as Heartland Cooperative’s 45.  However, in terms of grain sales, the two companies combined would still trail Cargill’s $134.9 billion.

If the merger is successful, the new name of the company would be Landus.  West Central Chief Executive Officer Milan Kucerak said there were ten names created and the boards of directors for both cooperatives selected Landus as their number one choice.  The name is broken down as “land,” which for farming is about having good, health soil and “us,” because it takes working with farmers to make the soil productive.

There are several more informational meetings scheduled at various locations from now until December 11th.  For the merger to pass, 50 percent plus one of each membership must vote, and of those votes, 60 percent must be a “Yes” vote.

The final tally of votes will take place in a special meeting on December 18th.