• 1
  • 1
  • 3

Press Releases


Wheat Growers Named ARA Retailer of the Year

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) honored Wheat Growers as the Retailer of the Year at the ARA Conference and Expo in San Diego, California.

The award is sponsored by Monsanto, ARA and AgProfessional magazine, and is recognized as a symbol of “quality and prestige, the emblem of the very best in the industry.”

Wheat Growers has more than 600 dedicated employees working at 37 different locations in South Dakota and North Dakota, providing service to more than 5,400 member-owners in a 50-county area.

"This is an award earned by our employee team,” Dale Locken, Wheat Growers’ CEO, said. “Our employees work extremely hard every day to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations. The ARA Retailer of the Year award recognizes their aspiration to provide superior service for our customers with safety and profitability in mind.”

ARA has seven criteria that a successful candidate for the award must meet. The seven criteria are:

  • Effective employee relations
  • Environmental stewardship and sustainability
  • Reliability
  • Community and industry leadership
  • Relationship building
  • Technology utilization
  • Innovative business practices

"Ag retailers make significant contributions to feeding the world and responsible stewardship of our natural resources,” ARA President & CEO Daren Coppock said. “Wheat Growers is a great representative of the industry and very deserving of this award."

ARA sums up its criteria for the award as “an organization that consistently outperforms other retailers, exceeds customers' expectations and successfully leads by outstanding and innovative business practices.”

Dale Locken knows there’s another key element to Wheat Growers’ success.

“It also is a tribute to our member-owners and our board of directors for having the vision to build a professional operation at Wheat Growers. They have trusted us to invest in facilities and employee skills to keep pace with the needs of the sophisticated producers here in the Dakotas.”

About Wheat Growers

Wheat Growers is a grain and agronomy cooperative in the heart of South and North Dakota. Owned by the members it serves, Wheat Growers exists to provide, with integrity, customers with reliable markets, services and quality products through a safety-oriented, profitable and innovative organization.

###

For more information, contact:
Bill Pool
Director of Communications and Corporate Marketing
Wheat Growers
bpool@sdwg.com
605-725-8333