Begun in 1914 when seven Missouri farmers got together to buy binder twine, the agricultural cooperative MFA today ties together 45,000 farmers in Missouri and adjacent states. It is one of the US's oldest regional co-ops, supplying its member/owners with agronomy, distribution, financing, and purchasing services. It runs some 100 retail farm supply centers and works with independent dealers. MFA supplies animal feeds, seed, fertilizer, and crop protection products. In addition to feed, fertilizer, and seed, the co-op also provides its members with agronomy services, animal-health products, and farm supplies. It also offers marketing services, and is the publisher of Today's Farmer.

Prima Limited has ground its way to the top. Beginning as a flour miller in Singapore in 1961, the company has grown into a diversified group of companies with worldwide operations. While flour is still the mainstay of Prima, its other businesses include feed milling, food manufacturing (including bakery products and ready meals), foodservice operations, restaurants (noodle shops). Not neglecting to keep up with the fast-paced, modern world, it manufactures supply-chain and logistics computer software. And, after all that, Pima has time left to do property management.

Founded in 1974, Veritable Vegetable is a longtime certified organic distributor of produce. Behold the Veritable Vegetable, an agricultural business that supplies organic produce from more than 340 growers to more than 300 retail and restaurant customers in California and the southwestern US. About 75% of business is generated from customers located in California, although its distribution area also includes Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Plantain Products Company is family-owned, founded by Segundo Argudo and his wife Peggy in 1965. Plantain Products Company produces plantain chips, cassava chips, and other snack foods, such as tortilla chips and pork rinds. It also makes a dried plantain soup mix. Plantain Products company's plantains and cassava are imported from Costa Rica and processed in plantain products company's 20,000-sq.-ft. facility in Tampa, Florida. Distribution is concentrated on the East Coast and in Florida. Plantain Products company's Chifles brand name comes from the Spanish term for plantain chips.

Ridley Corporation is a global producer of animal feed and salt. Its Ridley AgriProducts division is the largest feed producer in Australia providing products for the livestock, pet food, and aquaculture industries. Its Cheetham Salt division is the largest maker of domestic and refined salt in Australia. The company also owns nearly 70% of Ridley Inc., one of the largest producers of livestock feed in North America. Its North American operations contribute about one-third of the company's sales. Originally a salt producer, since 1990 Ridley has bulked up with acquisitions large and small in Australia, Canada, and the US. Ridley received a takeover offer from fellow Australian ag company, GrainCorp, in 2008.

Peco Foods hopes you'll do more than peek at their poultry parts. Producing some 18 million pounds of poultry every week, the company processes private-label and store brand chicken for US retail and foodservice customers. It also exports items to Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Peco's frozen, deli, and tray-pack products include boneless, skinless chicken breasts and tenderloins; boneless thighs; and jumbo legs and wings; as well as value-added breaded and flavored products. As a fully integrated processor, the company operates feed mills and hatcheries to support its poultry production facilities.

As one of the world's largest sausage-casing makers, Devro helps its customers get more banger for their buck, and sees them through the wurst of times. But it doesn't take extra guts to get the job done as Devro makes casings from animal collagen. The company's collagen casings and films are sold worldwide under the Coria, Cutisin, and Devro brands to food and meat processors to hold together ham, hot dogs, sausage, and other processed meats. The company also supplies products for use in the healthcare and cosmetics industry. Devro's products are sold in the Americas, the Asia/Pacific, and Europe.

From its 80-acre estate winery, Badger Mountain Vineyard produces certified organic wines under the Badger Mountain label. The company also makes non-organic wines from fruit grown elsewhere under the Powers Winery label. The Badger Mountain Vineyard transitioned to organic cultivation in 1988. Its wines are available throughout the US through various distributors. Chardonnay, merlot, syrah, and cabernet sauvignon are some of the varietals available.

Dennick FruitSource sells tropical fruit juices, concentrates, and purees made from acerola, guava, mango, and passion fruit, as well as from less exotic fruits such as apricot, banana, peach, pear, and pineapple to industrial customers in North America. Its fruits are sourced from growers all over the world, including in Brazil, Peru, Columbia, India, and South Africa. Dennick's standard, organic, and kosher fruit products ship in drums, bins, or tankers and used by other food and beverage manufactures who use them to make various products, including yogurt, baked goods, jams, and jellies.

Forget Idaho. County Super Spuds has been growing Maine potatoes for five generations. The company operates through three subsidiaries -- the 500-acre Sunday River Farms (bought in 2004) grows the potatoes, JDR Transport (launched in 1992) ships them to food processors such as Penobscot McCrum, which was also bought in 2004. County Super Spuds is owned by the McCrum family. The company is located in Aroostook County, in northeastern Maine near the Canadian border, which was known as the Potato Capital of America in the early 20th century.

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