On Friday, April 4, the board of Landus Cooperative announced a mutual decision made by the board and Matt Carstens that he would step down as CEO.
Effective immediately, board chairman Matt Chambers stepped into the acting CEO role, with an interim CEO expected to be announced within a week.
“Matt has been a dedicated and forward-thinking leader, and we sincerely appreciate the many contributions he made during his tenure with Landus,” Chambers said in the company’s press release. “The search for both an interim and permanent successor will prioritize identifying an individual with a deep understanding of the cooperative’s mission and the needs of its farmer-owners.”
Employees and farmer-owners were notified of the news via letters sent on Friday afternoon.
Earlier this spring, a few social media accounts began posting a recurring series of posts with accusations against Carstens and his leadership of Landus. Farm Journal reached out for a statement, and in early March Carstens said of the posts, “Despite more posts, the claims these accounts continue to make are baseless and unequivocally false.”
A company spokesperson said the cooperative is operational and financially stable.
This spring, select Landus grain elevators were shifted and placed on will call hours for “efficiency.” In January, Landus said it was laying off 10% of its workforce.
Sourced from the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, based on data published in 2023, here is a map of where grain and farm supply cooperatives in Iowa. The Landus locations are bright yellow:
Carstens was a co-founder and CEO of Conduit Ag. Conduit is said to remain operational and a separate business entity from Landus. On Monday morning, Conduit Ag named Jack Brodshaug as interim CEO.
