About Us
In December of 1996, Central Lakes Cooperative came into being as the merger between the Atwater Creamery, Atwater, Minnesota and The Farmers Union Oil Company of Willmar, Minnesota. Originally, this cooperative operated seven departments ranging from milk procurement to full service agronomy.
Presently, Central Lakes conducts business through three primary divisions; bulk petroleum, agronomy and Midas Auto Service. The cooperative is the primary stockholder and managing partner in a wholesale petroleum business, New Alliance Distributing, LLC and a retail petroleum distribution venture, Rooney Oil Enterprises, LLC. Central Lakes also owns and regenerates significant revenue through several lease properties. Annual consolidated sales are in the neighborhood of $30M.
In July of 2007, Central Lakes completed a facility consolidation project in which five different business locations were brought together in one new central location. This location, west of the town of Atwater, has complete agronomy and petroleum facilities as well as all administrative offices.
The Cooperative is governed by a seven member producer board of directors. The average full-time employee tenure at Central Lakes is 16 years. The present CEO, Conrad Bostron brings the average down because he has only been with the company for 13 years! Central Lakes Cooperative has been an owner / member of Parthenon Risk Partners, a property and casualty insurance company since its inception. They are also a cooperative member of the Access Insurance workers comp pool.