Wilco (farm supply cooperative)

Wilco is a farmer-owned farm supply cooperative dating back to the 1930s (Santiam Farmers Co-op)[1] based in the Willamette Valley of the U.S. state of Oregon. 30 years later, in 1967 Santiam Farmers Co-op merged with 4 other co-ops, the Mt. Angel Farmers Union Warehouse, the Donald Farmers Co-op, the Valley Farmers Co-op in Silverton, and the Canby Cooperative to form "Wilco Farmers Coop".[2] The name "Wilco" comes from a shortening of "Willamette Consolidated".[2]

Wilco store in McMinnville, Oregon

The cooperative has four divisions — Hazelnut Growers of Oregon,[3] an ag business division that provides customers with crop protection products and fertilizers (Valley Agronomics),[4] a fuels division for commercial petroleum, lubricants, and residential propane delivery and the farm store division.[5]

Today, the farmer-owned cooperative operates 20 retail farm stores throughout Oregon and western Washington[5] with plans to reach 22 locations on the West Coast by expanding to California in 2020-21. The retailer carries a wide range of hardware supplies alongside land, lawn, garden, livestock, and pet-related products and services.[6]

The farmer-owned cooperative's headquarters are in Mt. Angel.[2] Hazelnut Growers of Oregon processing plant and headquarters are based in Donald.[7]

In 2011, Wilco launched a program to support local FFA, called FFA Forever, collecting donations from vendors, employees, and customers. As of 2019, the program had collected more than 1 million dollars to benefit the Oregon and Washington FFA Associations.

References
  1. "New Retailer To Fill OSH Vacancy At Sonora Plaza". Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  2. "History". Wilco (official website). Retrieved January 31, 2012.
  3. Press, MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital. "Hazelnut processor seeks $2.4M from co-op". Capital Press. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  4. "Valley Agronomics & Wilco-Winfield to Form New Agronomy Joint Venture – Wilco". Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  5. Press, By Desiree Bergstrom For the Capital. "Wilco's Redmond farm store is co-op's 20th". Capital Press. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  6. GmbH, finanzen net. "Wilco Plans To Open Their First California Store, Expanding Their Rural Lifestyle Brand In Petaluma | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  7. "Hazelnut Growers of Oregon Opens New State-of-the-Art Processing Facility". Food Manufacturing. 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2020-08-19.


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