business backgrounder | industry
profit and growth
Ag Supply Co. is by no means a nonprofit. It, like other agricultural cooperatives, is a for-profit enterprise that pays
taxes on its income. The difference is that Ag Supply, like other farmer co-ops, returns its profits back to its customers
through annual checks and equity in the corporation.
“The co-op is owned by the people we serve. We don’t send money to Wall Street,” Sanow said. “The money stays
here. That’s the beauty of it and the story that doesn’t get told.”
Mike Compton, president of the Ag Supply Co. board of directors, said his grandfather helped start two different
ag co-ops that both are now just memories. “There used to be lots of ’em,” said Compton, whose family has run an
orchard and ranch just outside Wenatchee since 1898. “Through all the years this is the only one that really survived.”
The national trends support Compton’s family experience. Once common in rural communities, the number of
farmer cooperatives has dropped by almost half since 1989, mirroring the falling number of farms in the country.
Still, America has more than 2,500 agricultural co-ops that do $191.1 billion in business each year, according to the
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. They help the bottom line of their customers, too. Farmers who belong to
a supply co-op earn an average of $5,500 more per year, the NCFC reports.
“Co-ops as a whole have gotten down to business, or else you’re not in business,” Compton said.
Just a few years ago, Ag Supply Co. faced its own challenges, including $3.6 million in debt when Sanow arrived
from the Midwest in October of 2004. That’s all paid off now and the cooperative is growing.
Part of the increased profitability comes from a persistent focus on safety.
They repeat trainings on lifting, turning, ladder use and other basics. The cooperative is finishing its first year in the AWB retro program, CompWise. And in a
move that might shock other companies, Ag Supply invited Labor & Industries
— General Manager Al Sanow
in to inspect their operations and suggest ways to improve.
With hazmat delivery a big part of their bottom line, petroleum delivery drivers know they simply can’t take calls or texts until they pull over.
“We just don’t,” said Brandon Womack, a propane tech and delivery driver
at a glance
who has worked 11 years at Ag Supply. “We can’t take the risk.”
All those steps are working. The company celebrated its 80th birthday this
Ag Supply Co., founded 80 years ago, runs a
fall with an even bigger milestone: one year without any accidents.
farm store in Wenatchee and Ace Hardware
“That is historic,” Sanow said.
“Employees are the asset
that determines if you stay
in business or not.”
stores in East Wenatchee, Quincy, Ephrata,
Brewster and Sultan. The Sultan store, opened in
February 2012, is the cooperative’s first west of
the Cascade Mountains.
Backyard farmers are big customers. Each spring
Ag Supply’s farm store ͕