In 1983, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a Minnesota corporation, Farmland Industries, a Kansas corporation, and Boone Valley Cooperative Processing Association, an Iowa corporation doing business only in soybean processing, entered into a joint venture agreement to form one cooperative soybean processing company. On August 31, 1983, Boone Valley, Land O’Lakes Inc. and Farmland Industries combined their soybean processing plants located at Dawson, Minnesota; Eagle Grove, Iowa; Sheldon, Iowa; Fort Dodge, Iowa; Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Van Buren, Arkansas into a new company.

Shortly after the reconfiguration in 1983, the new company name "Ag Processing Inc a cooperative" was adopted with the corporate logo AGP^® as our company trademark.

In December 1985, the company acquired additional processing plants at Manning, Iowa and Mason City, Iowa from American Grain and Related Industries (AGRI).
 

Soybean Processing

Soybean processing is AGP's primary business. AGP is the largest soybean processor in Iowa and the fourth largest soybean processor in the United States based on capacity. Additionally, AGP is the largest COOPERATIVE soybean processor in the world. Every month, AGP plants acquire more than 20 million bushels of soybeans for processing. That’s the equivalent of the soybeans grown on 16 thousand acres per day. AGP annually purchases and processes more than 5.5 million acres of members’ soybeans. AGP continues to expand crushing capacity with the addition of plants in Emmetsburg, Iowa (1997) and Hastings, Nebraska (1999).

Today, AGP’s soybean processing plants are located in Dawson, Minnesota; Eagle Grove, Iowa; Emmetsburg, Iowa; Hastings, Nebraska; Manning, Iowa; Mason City, Iowa; Sheldon, Iowa; Sgt. Bluff, Iowa; and St. Joseph, Missouri.
 

In 1985, AGP began refining soybean oil by purchasing equipment for installation in an existing building located at the St. Joseph, Missouri soybean processing plant. Refining capacity was expanded in 1991 with the purchase of a Denison, Texas refinery. Then in 1993, the Sherman, Texas refinery was acquired through a lease agreement. Shortly after the acquisition of the Sherman plant, a new corporation, AGP, L.C. was formed with Archer Daniels Midland and AGP, having equal ownership of the two Texas refineries. In 1994, the Denison plant production (located 9 miles from Sherman) was consolidated into the Sherman plant and the Denison plant was closed. In April of 2000, shifting market conditions led to the closing of the Sherman refinery as well. However, AGP’s refining capacity expanded with the completion of a refinery in Eagle Grove, Iowa during January 1998, and a new vegetable oil refinery at Hastings, Nebraska, which became operational in January of 2001. AGP currently is the fourth largest vegetable oil refiner in the United States.

AGP operates a grain merchandising division which buys and sells grains on a regional, national and global basis. Merchandisers work out of the Omaha corporate office.

The company purchased a grain terminal at Lincoln, Nebraska in 1990, which was sold to a new corporation, AGP Grain Cooperative, effective February 1, 1991. AGP Grain Cooperative members voted to merge the cooperative into a wholly owned subsidiary of AGP called AGP Grain Marketing, Inc. on August 31, 2003. On August 31, 2004 the subsidiary name changed to AGP Grain Marketing, LLC. AGP Grain Marketing, LLC served producers and customers through its operations, marketing agreements, and partnerships in Nebraska, Texas, Iowa, and Kansas.

Another business unit of the AGP Grain Group was AGP Grain, Ltd., which was part of an acquisition from International Multifoods, Minneapolis, MN. From this acquisition, a partnership, AGP, L.P. was formed. AGP, L.P. sold its grain division to Ag Processing Inc in July 1994, which was called AGP Grain, Ltd. This wholly owned subsidiary consisted of elevators and terminals located in North Dakota and Minnesota, including an export facility in Duluth, Minnesota. AGP Grain, Ltd. also had merchandising offices in the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and in Antwerp, Belgium and Barcelona, Spain. On August 1, 2008, AGP sold the assets of AGP Grain, Ltd. in North Dakota and Minnesota to Columbia Grain, Portland, Oregon. The sale did not include AGP’s interest in Maple River Grain and Agronomy, LLC, located in Casselton, North Dakota.

In 2011, AGP’s grain division was integrated with the Ag Products business unit to strengthen the Company’s ability to meet customers’ demands for protein and grain.
 

Ag Products is a merchandising and trading group consisting of three different areas of responsibility:

Ag Products Protein markets soybean meal, AMINOPLUS®, DDGS, and soy hulls. AGP manufactures AMINOPLUS, a high-performance soy by-pass protein product at Hastings, Mason City, and Sgt. Bluff. AMINOPLUS, which is patented by AGP, improves milk production and adds value to soybeans, a win-win situation for agriculture.

Ag Products Grain is focused on bringing value to members through grain marketing operations. Ag Products Grain has elevators, partnerships and grain marketing agreements in locations throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota and Texas. Ag Products Grain continues to build partnerships, alliances and marketing agreements to help members successfully compete and survive in today’s challenging global grain industry.

Ag Products Export is responsible for international marketing of soybean meal, oilseeds, grains and other bulk agricultural commodities. AGP’s primary gateway to the fastest-growing global markets – the Pacific Rim – is through its West Coast export terminal at the Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen, Washington.  This state of the art shipping facility links global customers with a secure supply of processed ag products such as soybean meal and DDGS, grain, feed ingredients and oilseeds directly from AGP’s farm-to-Port cooperative supply chain that they value.
 

Ethanol: In 1994, an idle corn ethanol plant located in Jasper, Tennessee was purchased. The plant was dismantled and relocated to Hastings, Nebraska where it began operations in 1995. Production capacity continues to expand.

Methyl Esters: In 1996, AGP expanded its value-added capabilities with completion of a soybean methyl ester plant in Sgt Bluff, Iowa. AGP markets soy methyl ester products under the SOYGOLD brand. They are used in a wide variety of applications including soy biodiesel fuel, solvents, and spray adjuvants (used to enhance the effectiveness of agricultural chemicals). AGP built a new soy methyl ester plant in St. Joseph, MO that became operational in the fall of 2007. In 2011, AGP acquired a soy biodiesel plant in Algona, Iowa. With the 60-million gallon annual capacity from the Algona plant, AGP’s total biodiesel capacity from its three plants currently stands at 120 million gallons.

AGP, a leading advocate for the establishment of industry quality standards, continues to produce the highest quality biodiesel product available, receiving BQ9000 certification of its soy biodiesel production.

In 1991, Ag Processing Inc purchased the North American Ag Products Division of International Multifoods, Minneapolis, Minnesota. This business was comprised of Supersweet Feeds, and a grain operation all in the US, and Masterfeeds a Canadian feed manufacturing business. A partnership was formed with Archer Daniels Midland with their contribution of ADM Feed Company and a pet food division. Two organizations, AGP, L.P. in the U.S. and AGP, Inc. in Canada were formed. In 1994, AGP, Inc., in Canada, expanded its operations with the purchase of five feed mills located at Alberta, Canada. In July 2001, ADM acquired the U.S. and Caribbean operations of Consolidated Nutrition, L.C., from AGP. As part of the transaction, AGP acquired ADM’s 50 percent interest in AGP, Inc. in Canada, resulting in Masterfeeds being a wholly owned subsidiary of AGP.

AGP has a major investment in Protinal/Proagro, a fully integrated poultry and feed company in Venezuela. AGP provides the management and leadership for this company which is the country’s largest poultry processor and one of the largest animal feed producers in Venezuela. Protinal/Proagro is a valuable destination market for feed grains from AGP.