The cooperative focuses especially on products from canola and soybeans. It offers farmers the power to not just grow, but also process and sell those crops for 15 percent to 30 percent more income.
"Farmers in Georgia have to stop thinking about producing oilseeds by the bushel, and think about producing sellable oil by the ounce," said Randy Hudson, coordinator of the Emerging Crops and Technologies Center for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "This could empower them beyond the farm gate and into the market."
Other topics at the meetings will include:
- How the new cooperative can provide value-added income.
- An in-depth look at a recent feasibility study on an oilseed cooperative structure.
- Comments and advice from farmers in similar cooperatives.
- The structure and procedures of the closed co-op.
- Legal issues surrounding a cooperative.
- Potential support from the state.
Contact your county extension agent to learn more about any of these meetings or growing oilseeds.