Landmark ~ 50 year commitment in the lending business
1950s
CGC manager Galen Hartung proactive using the local bank to purchase accounts payable and fund operating lines.
1960s and 1970s
Cottage Grove Co-op sold and serviced household appliances, and utilized Cenex Finance to assist with those sales.
Bank lending with producers continued to grow.
1980s
Cottage Grove Co-op was an early promoter of loan program, Partners in Production, now Pro-Partners.
Wisconsin Legislature created the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, and expanded its reach into agricultural financing.
Tom Haynes, Cottage Grove Co-op’s Credit Manager, was the first Co-op Credit Manager in Wisconsin to utilize the CROP loan program through WHEDA. CGC was at one time the largest originator of WHEDA CROP loans.
Cottage Grove Cooperative worked hard to keep producers in business throughout the 1980s’ farm credit crisis.
1990s
Union Cooperative started structured direct lending program with Pro-Partners and Cooperative Finance Association (CFA); Union Coop did limited direct lending outside of these structured programs.
Grand River Cooperative began using Pro-Partners.
2003
Landmark Services Cooperative forms, the use of commercial banks continued and expanded.
CFA and Pro-Partners loans as well as Farm Plan program continued to the utilized.
2008
Verity Resources formed. Through Verity, Landmark offers the Companion Family of finance options from unsecured to secured operating loans, equipment, real estate loans and leasing options.
