Land O’Lame

What do butter and pet food have in common? Other than a number of mystery ingredients, in this case, they have in common that two of the most popular brands for each of those products — Land O’Lakes butter and Purina — are owned by the same corporation, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a 9,000 employee, member-owned co-op with more than 4,000 members established in 1921. Beyond the well-known consumer products, Land O’Lakes — I was tempted to abbreviate it as LOL but that would just be too distracting — is “the third-largest farm seed business and #1 distributor of crop protection products in the U.S.” as well as providing business development services to its members, and other businesses like transportation. Needless to say, it has an impact in th