Countrymark Coop: merger of the Indiana, Michigan and Ohio farm bureau coops.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Countrymark Cooperative Inc. - Indiana Private 100 - Company Profile

There's a stereotypical image a lot of city folks conjure up in their minds when they think of farmers, and Philip French says it just isn't true. "Agriculture is not a guy with a pitchfork, straw in his mouth and a haggard wife," says the president of Countrymark Cooperative in Indianapolis.

French should know. For one thing, he grew up on a family farm in Noble County. And even though he now wears a tie and works in an eighth-floor corner office in downtown Indianapolis, French has plenty of contact with farmers. That's because Countrymark, which sits atop Indiana's Private 100 (see page 16), serves farmers and is owned by local agricultural cooperatives.

Agriculture, he says, is as technology-driven as a lot of industries these days. Crops no longer are raised through a mix of instinct and luck. Today's farmers call upon computer analyses, scientific testing and environmental expertise as they plant, tend and bring in their crops, and Countrymark exists to keep them on top of the latest methodology and technology. In addition, Countrymark provides farmers with fuels, feeds and fertilizers at competitive prices. The cooperative also helps farmers bring their grain to market, and is working to expand that market into such far-away places as Japan.

In short, Countrymark helps farmers deal with and profit in their ever-changing industry--not always an easy feat. According to French, the whole notion of agricultural cooperatives took root in a time when radical changes were just starting to sprout. "Agriculture had a real boom during World War I and a real bust in the '20s, even before the Depression. Farmers were moving into whole new technologies, with tractors replacing horses," he says. "That required you to buy a lot of things. You needed fuels and lubricants and fertilizers."

In those early days, no business emerged that satisfactorily took...