Members of Watertown Cooperative in Watertown and Farm Country Coop in Wallace have voted to unify their operations. The new Cooperative which has yet to be named will be officially unified on January 1 of 2020. Watertown Cooperative General Manager Lanny Kirsch will be the Chief Executive Officer for the new cooperative which will operate 7 grain, agronomy, energy and feed locations across three Eastern South Dakota counties. He says they decided to unify in order to strengthen their economic position.

He says their services will be much the same as they are now with more efficiencies added.

Kirsch says there’s great backing for the new Coop with Watertown Cooperative members voted for the proposed unification with 79 percent voting yes and 65 percent of Farm Country Coop members voting for the unification. He also expects more cooperatives to unify in the future.

The headquarters for the new Cooperative will be housed in Watertown.