owned since 1923 type agricultural cooperative industry agricultural supply and retail founded 1923 1923 headquarters henrico county virginia united states number of locations virginia west virginia north carolina south carolina maryland kentucky delaware florida georgia alabama area served southern united states key people jeff stroburg ceo products farm supplies petroleum & bulk fuel grass & vegetable seed fertilizer power equipment pet & wild animal supplies livestock supplies and feed horse supplies and feed fencing equipment apparel and more services seed feed fertilizer crop protectants precision ag livestock health equine health farm supplies farm fuels website http www.southernstates.com southern states cooperative is an american farmer owned agricultural supply cooperative in the united states . southern states cooperative supplies small medium & large commercial farmers with livestock & animal feed pasture seed vegetable seed farm fertilizers farm supplies bulk fuel and crop services including information & products to grow better crops . they also supply homeowners with information & products for their lawn garden hobby farm and home . contents 1 company history 2 acquisitions and subsidiaries 3 research 4 references 5 external links company history edit southern states cooperative was founded in 1923 as the virginia seed service by 150 farmers in richmond virginia to help develop seeds it expanded to distribution of feed in 1925 fertilizer in 1926 and farm supplies and petroleum shortly after . at the time farmers in virginia were unable to buy seed guaranteed to grow in the commonwealth . despite scientific findings about the correlation between the quality of seeds and the quality of crops they produced commercial seed handlers continued to sell poor quality seed . in 1923 about 150 farmers met in richmond virginia to take steps to remedy the situation . these 150 farmers calling their cooperative virginia seed service vss found that pooling their resources enabled them to procure seeds better suited to virginia s growing conditions . vss began distributing feed in 1925 added a fertilizer service in 1926 and started handling farm supplies and petroleum products a few years later . in the early 1930s vss was looking beyond virginia and changed its name to southern states cooperative . soon other states were served including delaware and maryland in 1934 west virginia in 1941 kentucky in 1945 and north carolina in 1986 . improvements in service also came quickly . in 1948 the cooperative established its first hybrid corn research program . six years later realizing it could no longer rely solely on college research southern states helped establish a chain of feed testing and research farms located across the country . and in 1960 southern states and ten other regional co ops formed a national seed breeding research organization ffr . in 1978 southern states moved its headquarters to henrico county . 1 acquisitions and subsidiaries edit in october 1998 southern states continued its growth by acquiring the wholesale and retail farm supply system of gold kist inc. the acquisition effectively expanded the co op s territory into the southeastern part of the nation . two years later southern states purchased the wholesale business of agway consumer dealers and assumed all dealer marketing development operations distribution and logistics for this business . the acquisition included a dealer network in maine vermont new hampshire new york massachusetts connecticut new jersey rhode island pennsylvania maryland and delaware and a customer service center in syracuse n.y. as well as distribution facilities . research edit the cooperative tests and adapts seed varieties to different regions . in 1948 it began a hybrid corn research program and in 1954 began to set up a series of research farms . it is a member of the national seed breeding research organization ffr cooperative a research group specializing in forage seed breeding owned by a number of cooperatives founded in 1960 . 2 it is also a member of cooperative research farms crf a research group specializing in animal nutrition . 3 references edit southern states legacy is built on excellence and community . henrico now . retrieved 2015 01 11 . ffr cooperative . retrieved march 27 2016 . crf . retrieved march 27 2016 . southern states always ag authentic crop life october 2015 cover story 10 1 2015 southern states cooperative precision from sea to shining sea precision ag 09 21 2015 going above & beyond with aerial imaging service precision farming dealer 04 09 2015 southern states co op an inside look at our aerial imagery program crop life 02 08 2015 southern states co op named feed mill of the year for 2nd time feed machinery 12 2 2014 external links edit southern states web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title southern states cooperative & oldid 738935139 categories agricultural supply cooperativescompanies based in 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