Five Star Cooperative, headquartered in New Hampton, Iowa, has been named the 2025 recipient of The Scoop’s Business Innovation Award, sponsored by AgVend. The award was presented Dec. 3, at the Agricultural Retailers Association Conference and Expo in Salt Lake City.
The Business Innovation Award recognizes ag retailers who demonstrate digital transformation in their business. These include outstanding examples of how ag retailers are taking their enterprise resource planning, agronomics and business data to elevate customer service and build a sustainable business. The award is presented to a single ag retail location and its team in the U.S.
“Especially in volatile economic times, farmers need partners they can rely on, and increasingly, technology is fortifying how those relationships grow,” said Margy Eckelkamp, editor of The Scoop. “With greater transparency, real-time data sharing and easy-to-use communication tools, retailers such as Five Star Cooperative are rewriting the playbook for being a business in which it is easy to do business.”
Five Star Cooperative is a farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperative that serves rural communities across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Their client base includes individual farmers and farms of all sizes, providing quality products, expert service and a commitment to long-term success for each and every member. One of the paths to that success is Operation Easy, an implementation of internal processes to increase efficiency and improve every aspect of the customer experience for the farmer.
“Digital innovation at Five Star Cooperative isn’t about adopting technology for technology’s sake, it’s about listening to our members and responding with real solutions that make their day easier,” said Scott Black, CEO of Five Star Cooperative. “Operation Easy gave us direct, honest customer feedback, and our team used that input to build tools that improve transparency, access and the overall experience of doing business with us. Receiving the Business Innovation Award from The Scoop is a meaningful recognition of that work, but the true reward is hearing from our farmers and team members that these tools are making a difference. This is only the beginning of where we’re headed.”
Learn more about Five Star Cooperative.
“Digital transformation isn’t about replacing the fundamentals of ag retail; it’s about protecting them,” said Alexander Reichert, CEO at AgVend. “The retailers leading this industry forward are modernizing their business to give their teams more time, more clarity and more capacity to serve their growers, especially when markets turn. Innovation isn’t a luxury in tough cycles; it’s how great retailers stay resilient, aligned and relentlessly focused on their customers.”
