Background

FS is a major national retail brand that represents a network of farm supply companies as well as agricultural products and services. FS companies are located in the Midwest and northeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and in Ontario, Canada and market a wide variety of products and services to the agricultural market under the FS brand. The FS logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 is a registered trademark of Growmark

Growmark

GROWMARK, Inc., is a regional agricultural supply cooperative operating primarily in the Midwest and Northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada. Its local member cooperatives commonly use the name FS. GROWMARK ranks 75th on the ICA Global 300 2008 list of mutuals and cooperatives...

. and is used extensively on facilities, product packaging and on marketing materials to promote proprietary products and services. FS branded products are also available through licensed dealers. The FS System is an agricultural supply cooperative.

Products

FS represents numerous agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 products which are marketed nationally including:

-- Farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

-- Lawn

Lawn

A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...

 Seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

-- Fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

s

-- Herbicide

Herbicide

Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...

s

-- Pesticides

-- Energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

 Products

-- Lubricants

-- Grease

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

-- Agronomic services

History

1927 --- Illinois Farm Supply Company formed by nine local agricultural supply cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

s in Illinois.
1955 --- FS trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 is adopted.
1956 --- FS logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 trademarked.
1960s --- Company moves offices from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 to Bloomington, Ill.
1960s --- Illinois Farm Supply Company merges with Farm Bureau Service Company of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

to form FS
Services, Inc.
1960s --- Wisconsin Farmco Service Cooperative and Producers Seed Company merge into FS Services, Inc.
1980 --- FS Services and Illinois Grain Corporation merge to form GROWMARK, Inc.