1930 | During the Great Depression, butter prices sink to an all-time low. We help shore up the weakening market, buying a whopping 7 million pounds of butter. Within four months, prices edged back up.

1937 | Our first milk-drying plant opens in Luck, Wisconsin. The facility manufactures skim milk powders, casein and buttermilk powder. Due to World War II, all of these products see an increased demand. By peak war years, we had another 21 milk-drying plants operating in the Upper Midwest. 

1951 | Our invention of calf milk replacer revolutionizes the feed business. Farmers no longer have to give skim milk to their dairy calves.

1963 | We enter the cheese market in a big way with our acquisition of the Wisconsin-based Dairy Belt Cheese and Butter Company.

1970 | A merger with Farmers Regional Cooperative (Felco) kicks off the beginning of tremendous growth in ag services. We'd long been focused on producing dairy products, while Felco specialized in agricultural inputs, or farm supplies.

1981 | Our international development journey begins. Since then, Land O'Lakes International Development has led 280 programs and trainings in 80 countries to improve food security, farmers' agricultural productivity, and create vibrant and stable market systems. It will become an independent nonprofit named Land O’Lakes Venture37, but you’ll have to fast forward a few years for that.
 

1998 | A merger with Dairyman's Cooperative Creamery Association of Tulare, California, bolsters our West Coast operations.

2001 | The Purina brand becomes a part of our story. Purina Mills was founded in 1894 to supply fresh, high-quality, consistent feed. Today, that same philosophy holds true.

2007 | Our seed business joins with Agriliance’s crop protection products to form Winfield Solutions, LLC. The WinField^® brand is later introduced in 2012.

2015 | We take the next step in our growth journey—onto South African soil. We close on a 52.5 percent ownership stake in Villa Crop Protection. With Villa, we’re positioned to help sustainably improve the yields of farms of all sizes in South Africa and beyond.

2016 | After our crop inputs and insights business merges with United Suppliers, Inc., the WinField^® United brand is launched. The business serves more than 1,300 locally owned and operated agricultural retailers with seed, crop protection products, agricultural services and agronomic insights.

2018 | It’s not every day the big game comes to town. As a leader in food and ag community, we took full advantage of this opportunity to raise awareness of Land O'Lakes' full farm-to-fork business model and the cooperative's position as an innovative leader in modern agriculture. Here's how it went.

2019 | Land O’Lakes International Development became an independent nonprofit in 2015 -- but in 2019 it officially comes into its own as Land O'Lakes Venture37. Why 37? Find out more here.