Case Study
Oakland Agri-Business Solutions, Pulling It All Together

Stretching across most of southwestern Iowa, United Farmers Cooperative (UFC) uses Oakland Agri-Business Solutions accounting software at all of its 23 locations. That covers a diverse product line that includes agronomy, grain services, fuel and energy sales, feed milling and retail feed sales, convenience stores, lumber yard-hardware outlets, precision ag services, and merchandise.

Lynette VanDenEinde, chief financial officer and agronomy accounting manager, says all of the coops that formed UFC starting in 2016 used the Oakland product except for one, which converted after a 2019 merger.

VanDenEinde notes that Oakland’s software programs are particularly helpful for cooperatives. “For example,” VanDenEinde says, “Oakland software does an excellent job of tracking the coop’s patronage system.

“Oakland software is also very strong with grain accounting,” she remarks, “which UFC uses to manage its grain inventory.” UFC also uses Oakland to track inventories in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, feed, and other operations.

Integral in Grain Accounting

“Oakland is integral to ensure everything flows correctly through the grain accounting system,” VanDenEinde notes. “The programs facilitate the coop’s compliance with annual state and federal audits. Regulators and auditors all appreciate the fact that the Oakland system is very straightforward and enables easy tracking of operations throughout the year.”

Oakland’s interface with Feed Mill Manager integrates the operations of the coop’s feed mills, which supply feed to approximately 300 barns in southwest Iowa and northern Missouri. “This integration allows us to import all billing from the feed mills in Creston, Afton, and Red Oak into the Oakland system onto the customer’s account.”

VanDenEinde says that UFC’s 4,150 Class A and Class B members can sign in on a secure link through the UFC website to view account information. “Customer account information is updated each day, and online payments are available,” she adds. “They also can view their patronage information and equity in the coop.”

One of Oakland’s strengths, she says, is its ability to set up multiple interfaces to outside services. “With the diversity of services we offer, the interfaces Oakland has created are vital to our daily operations.”

VanDenEinde also appreciates Oakland’s customer service. “The staff at Oakland are knowledgeable and can walk us through issues and help our staff understand the process. We are a satisfied customer.”

Jerry Perkins, contributing editor

From March/April 2022 Grain Journal Issue

Cooperative

United Farmers Cooperative

Red Oak and Afton, IA • 712-623-5453

united-farmers.com

John Pruss, General Manager

Lynette VanDenEinde, Chief Financial Officer and Agronomy Accounting Manager

Monte Hamilton, Operations Personnel Manager

Founded: 2016

Annual sales: $464 million

Storage capacity: 23 million bushels

Annual volume: 39.5 million bushels

Number of employees: 300 full-time

Crops handled: Corn and soybeans

Services: Agronomy, grain, fuel, energy, feed milling, retail feed sales, lumber yard-hardware, other services

Software Vendor

Story City, IA

800-383-5114 • oaklandcorp.com

Roger Oakland, President

Chuck Carlson, Vice President-Operations

Arlen Oakland, Sales Representative

Operating systems: Linux server, Windows clients

Software features: Fully integrated Oakland accounting, grain, agronomy, fuel, patronage, and payroll. Live commodity bids, regular and prepaid bookings, degree day, fuel truck POS, and patron web access at farmerdata.com. Multiple interfaces available.