The Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives at North Dakota State University has received a $10,000 donation from CoBank and Farm Credit System.

The donation will help support the overall mission of the Burdick Center, which is dedicated to advancing knowledge about cooperatives within the university and among the general public.

Everett Dobrinski, CoBank chairman, and David Kragnes, former chairman of American Crystal Sugar Co. and a member of CoBank’s board of directors, presented the contribution at the recent Al Bloomquist Lecture event, which is held annually by the Burdick Center.

“We’re very pleased to be underwriting the Burdick Center and its mission of support for cooperatives,” said Bob Engel, CoBank’s president and chief executive officer. “The economic turmoil of the past few years has underscored the strong benefits of the cooperative business model and the unique alignment of interests it creates between customers, investors and other stakeholders. In promoting the cooperative approach, the Burdick Center continues to perform an enormous service for agriculture and the rest of the rural economy in this region of the country.”

“We’re grateful for this contribution and the ongoing support of CoBank and Farm Credit System,” said Greg McKee, Burdick Center director. “This donation will allow us to enhance the quality of the center’s education, training, research and other programs.”

The mission of the Quentin Burdick Center for Cooperatives is to conduct, promote and coordinate university education and research on cooperatives; strengthen cooperatives' operation; and work toward expanding employment and economic opportunities through cooperatives.

CoBank is a $58 billion financial services institution serving agribusiness cooperatives, rural electric cooperatives, water companies and communications service providers in all 50 states.

The bank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a federally chartered network of borrower-owned lending institutions serving farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers across the U.S.

Half of the $10,000 contribution to the Burdick Center came directly from CoBank. The rest came through a donation from the Farm Credit Foundation’s Douglas D. Sims Fund for Rural Leadership, which was established through a $1 million grant by CoBank in 2006 in recognition of its former chief executive officer.

NDSU Agriculture Communication