High Plains Cooperative recently announced eight public meetings in June to allow producers of North Dakota-made products and services to join the new marketing cooperative. The co-op is open to members of North Dakota's Pride of Dakota Program, which has been in existence for 25 years. High Plains Co-op will operate a retail sales and order fulfillment store, as well as kiosks in shopping malls.
The only one of the meetings that will be in this area is at 6 p.m. June 29 at Babb's Coffee House, 100 First Ave. S., Jamestown.
Membership in High Plains Cooperative is open to all members of the Pride of Dakota Program. If a producer of a product or service in North Dakota is not a member of the Pride of Dakota Program and wishes to join the cooperative, he or she will need to join Pride of Dakota as well.
"Pride of Dakota members are eligible to purchase one common stock in High Plains Cooperative," said Marlo Anderson, president of the new North Dakota cooperative. "Only 200 shares of common stock will be available, so we encourage Pride of Dakota members to attend one of the eight public meetings and get signed up as soon as possible." The common stock share gives members the right to market their products and services through the cooperative.
In addition to the 200 shares of common stock, the co-op will offer 140,000 shares of preferred stock to the general public. The minimum purchase is 10 shares.
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The equity raised will be used to renovate the Mandan site and hire a general manager and staff for the retail store and order fulfillment center.
The business planning and costs of preparing the necessary membership offering documents are being paid for in part by grants from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and the North Dakota Agricultural Products and Utilization Commission. In addition, many Pride of Dakota members contributed money to Dakota Co-op Association, the steering committee that was formed to lead the work of forming High Plains Cooperative.
For more information on the membership and equity drive, contact Anderson at 701-663-4155, 701-391-8955 (cell) or marlo@awesome2 products.com.
More information on Dakota Cooperative Association and High Plains Cooperative can be found at www.dakotaco-op.com .
