On March 29 the patrons of two locally owned North Dakota cooperatives approved a proposed merger.

Bottineau Farmers Elevator operates grain elevators, a gas station and fertilizer plants in Bottineau, Souris and Westhope. Souris River Cooperative operates grain elevators, a C-store and has a LLC agreement with Dakota Agronomy Partners as well as a fuel partnership with Northern Fuel Partners. They have locations in Russell, Newburg, Kramer, Souris, Antler and Lansford.

The vote passed 77 percent in Bottineau and 85 percent in Newburg. Both cooperatives have been long-time affiliates of CHS, a regional coop located in Inver Grove Heights, Minn. The unification will start on Sept. 1, 2016.

The new name will be Border Ag & Energy. The main office will be in Bottineau and the Russell office will be fully operational for all grain business.

Merger talks started in January 2015 with several informational meetings in March 2015. Studies continued through the summer and fall and both boards decided to take the results to the patrons for a vote. The new company will have the ability to load large shuttle trains on the BNSF and CP railroads. The patrons wanted to stay locally owned and preserve their equity; about 25 percent of the patrons are members of both coops.

The two cooperatives are very similar in total sales, grain handle and both have very strong balance sheets.

The agricultural business is rapidly changing and competition is increasing. Multinational grain companies are moving into both trade territories. Therefore board, management and patrons agreed that both companies needed to unify to expand the footprint that Border Ag & Energy will serve.