Zeeland Farm Services: where family belongs

From the road, travelers might think Zeeland Farm Services is just another factory of some sort, maybe even a type of factory farm. There are grain legs spreading like a spider over bins, trucks running in and out and the hum of mills and elevators.

And even if the definition of family - or family farm, for that matter - has been muddled the last few years, a closer look at Zeeland Farm Services proves that the traditional American family is still alive and well and capable of running a first-rate family agricultural business, even if it looks like a factory.

Begun more than 50 years ago by patriarch Robert G. (Bob) Meeuwsen to sell and transport grain, feed and produce, the family has never been one to shy away from investment and innovation. Need evidence? Ask Bob or his sons, Cliff, Arlen and Robb. Better yet, go see the newest division of the company, Zeeland Food Services Inc., as did about 200 dignitaries and guests at the June 13 ribbon cutting ceremony for the new soybean oil refinery facility.

The new refinery takes the family business onto the next rung in a ladder that has leaned on the soybean for years. In fact, today Zeeland Farm Services can take the bean all the way from planting to harvest to the stove.

Farmers can buy soybean seeds at the company's agronomy division, and plenty have over the years. Today, said company President Cliff Meeuwsen, about 10,000 Michigan acres are planted to specialty soybeans by select farmers. The seed produces a low-saturated fat bean that is processed for the company's own low-saturated fat cooking oil, called SelectOil. The farmers get a premium for the bean, and Zeeland Farm Services gets another piece of the value-added pie that enables it to help farmers in return.

"We're trying to make as good a market as we can for soybeans, and keep the price of meal down so we have a good base of agricultural businesses such as poultry and meat and milk producers who can afford to grow those products," Cliff said. "The new refinery is another step in the direction we want to go, and that's producing a product that can go directly to the end customer. The retail cooking oil market and the soy diesel market is getting bigger every year."

Part of the beauty of the big new refinery - aside from the shiny new equipment and obvious pride from owners and employees alike - is that soybean oil from the plant can go for further processing to either food or fuel grade uses. Presently, Cliff said, the oil is further refined for food products at A.C. Humco's Champaign, Ill., processing facility.

"We have the capacity in the new refinery to produce 160 million pounds of oil per year," Cliff said. "We're going to do 100 million pounds to start. A.C. Humco can put our oil in the bottle and put our name on it, and they may with some, but most of it will go to their own products," he said.

To get to this point, Zeeland Farm Services has involved the family every step of the way. Cliff oversees the entire operation, while Arlen is vice-president and heads the company's transportation department. Robb is the specialty oil manager. Together, they employ 135 souls, including 11 Meeuwsen family members. But today's business couldn't be where it is today, Cliff said, without the foresight of father Bob.

"Dad had the foresight to buy this 14-acre parcel," Cliff said at the ribbon-cutting, "and that decision has helped keep us competitive. Without this site, we wouldn't have been able to build this world-class facility that is another tool for continued service for farmers."

Government officials also displayed some foresight, but not without controversy, said Ottawa County Commissioner Ed Berghorst.

"There was some hesitation on the county's part about allowing this refinery to be built," he told the crowd. "We had no precedent. With an (ag processing) Renaissance Zone, there is no taxation. But we knew Zeeland Farm Services is contributing to the tax base of the county, and we wanted to encourage families to stay in business. Also, the new refinery will further diversify the county."

It also will help farmers, said Dan Wyant, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

"When we see innovation like this that will add value to a product, it will also add to the bottom line of farmers," he said. "Keeping farmers profitable is the best land use policy we can have, and the state was happy to contribute with a Renaissance Zone. We know that it also took significant capital investment, and we know this refinery will be an asset to the state of Michigan."

While the focus of the day was the new refinery, it is, as Cliff said, just another step. Predecessors were grain and commodity marketing, agronomy services, transportation and soybean processing. The brothers deal with a variety of commodities, from citrus pulp and cottonseed to soy hull pellets. They offer fertilizer, custom spraying, soil testing and consulting services. The elevator division can store 2.1 million bushels of grain, and keeps identity-preserved product separate for increasingly diverse markets.

If all that sounds like a factory-type business, well, maybe it is. But it's also a family business, in the purest definition of the term. In fact, three generations of Meeuwsens were present at the refinery ceremony, proving the truth of the company's catch-phrase: "Our family working for your family."