Who Owns Land O'Lakes?
Land O'Lakes is owned by Land O'Lakes, Inc., a member-owned agricultural cooperative headquartered in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The brand covers butter, cheese, milk, cream, and spreads made with milk supplied by the cooperative's roughly 1,100 farmer-owners. Founded in 1921, Land O'Lakes is the top-selling branded butter in the United States.
Who Owns Land O'Lakes?
- Parent Company: Land O'Lakes, Inc.
- Ownership Type: Brand division
- Company Type: Privately Held
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| Land O'Lakes | Land O'Lakes, Inc. | Brand division |
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History of Land O'Lakes
- Founded: 1921
- Founders: Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association
The brand began in 1921, when 320 dairy cooperatives in Minnesota joined to form the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association. The goal was practical: member creameries produced butter of uneven quality and sold it individually at weak prices. A federation could grade, market, and distribute a uniform product at better returns. The association set quality standards and began marketing butter under a single identity.
In 1924 the association ran a public naming contest. The winning entry, Land O'Lakes, referenced Minnesota's state nickname. Two years later the organization adopted the name formally as Land O'Lakes Creameries, Inc. The cooperative expanded beyond butter into cheese, evaporated milk, and poultry processing through the following decades.
The familiar packaging image, a Native American maiden kneeling before a lake, first appeared on cartons in 1954. Ojibwe artist Patrick DesJarlait redrew it in the 1960s. The company removed the image in 2020, replacing it with photographs of member farmers and a prominent "Farmer-Owned" mark ahead of its centennial.
Land O'Lakes broadened far beyond consumer dairy over the second half of the twentieth century. The cooperative entered animal feed and seed, built the WinField crop inputs business, and in 2001 acquired Purina Mills for approximately $230 million, making it a national leader in animal nutrition. That Purina unit, now Purina Animal Nutrition, is unrelated to the pet food company owned by Nestle. In 2016 the cooperative combined its WinField seed and crop protection business with United Suppliers to form WinField United. A year later it bought Vermont Creamery, adding premium goat cheese and cultured butter to the consumer portfolio.
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Recent years have rewarded the dairy side. American butter consumption recovered from its 2022 inflation slump, and Land O'Lakes reported one of its strongest dairy results on record heading into fiscal 2025. For the full year ended December 31, 2025, the cooperative posted net sales of $16.4 billion and net earnings of $265 million, up 11 percent year over year, with all three segments beating internal expectations.
About Land O'Lakes, Inc.
What does Land O'Lakes own?
The cooperative owns the Land O'Lakes dairy brand, Purina Animal Nutrition, WinField United crop inputs, Vermont Creamery, Alpine Lace, and the Truterra sustainability business. Its assets include dozens of dairy plants, feed mills, and distribution facilities across the United States.
Is Land O'Lakes publicly traded?
No. Land O'Lakes is a member-owned cooperative. Its common equity belongs to approximately 1,100 dairy farmer-members and member cooperatives and cannot be bought on any exchange.
Who founded Land O'Lakes?
The company was founded in 1921 by 320 Minnesota dairy cooperatives that federated as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association. There was no individual founder; it was a collective action by farmer-owned creameries.
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Where is Land O'Lakes headquartered?
The company is headquartered in Arden Hills, Minnesota, a suburb of Saint Paul. It has operated in the Twin Cities area since its 1921 founding.
How many brands does Land O'Lakes own?
The cooperative operates roughly six principal brands: the flagship Land O'Lakes dairy brand, Purina Animal Nutrition, WinField United, Vermont Creamery, Alpine Lace, and Truterra. Its model concentrates on one consumer brand plus business-facing agricultural identities rather than a broad consumer portfolio.
Who owns Land O'Lakes?
The farmer-members own it. Approximately 1,100 dairy farm families and a network of member agricultural cooperatives hold the voting equity, elect the board, and receive patronage refunds from annual earnings. No corporation or outside shareholder controls the company.
Is Land O'Lakes the same as Purina pet food?
No. Land O'Lakes owns Purina Animal Nutrition, the livestock feed business descended from Purina Mills, which it acquired in 2001. Purina pet care brands such as Pro Plan belong to Nestle Purina PetCare, a legally separate company since 1986.
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- Founded: 1921
- Headquarters: Arden Hills, Minnesota, USA
- Company Type: Privately Held
- Revenue: $16.4 billion (FY2025)
- Employees: Approximately 9,000
Where Is Land O'Lakes Made / Based?
- Headquarters: Arden Hills, Minnesota, USA
- Manufacturing / Operations: United States
Land O'Lakes Categories & Tags
Land O'Lakes Sustainability & Ethics
The brand's sustainability story runs through its cooperative structure and its Truterra subsidiary rather than through consumer-facing certifications.
Truterra, launched in 2016, sells regenerative agriculture programs and carbon market access to farmers working with member cooperatives, and it has contracted with food companies seeking lower-emissions supply chains. Land O'Lakes also sells a USDA Organic certified butter line, the one independently verified certification in its consumer range.
The cooperative is not a certified B Corp, and the brand carries no Leaping Bunny or Fair Trade marks, which are largely irrelevant to dairy. The farmer-owned governance model itself is the brand's primary ethical claim: profits flow back to approximately 1,100 dairy farm families rather than to outside shareholders, and the company reports on this in its annual report.
Land O'Lakes Recalls & Controversies
Packaging controversy: For most of its history the brand's logo featured a Native American woman named Mia. The image drew criticism for decades as a stereotypical depiction. In early 2020 Land O'Lakes removed the maiden from its packaging and replaced her with farmer photography, a change framed around the cooperative's centennial and its farmer-owned identity.
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Antitrust scrutiny: The cooperative's 2001 acquisition of Purina Mills drew federal antitrust review. Regulators required divestitures of certain feed mills as a condition of approval, and the deal closed under a consent decree.
Product recalls: Like all large dairy processors, the company has issued periodic voluntary recalls, typically for potential allergen or contamination issues, coordinated with the FDA. None has risen to the level of a major public safety event in recent years.
Land O'Lakes Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Farmer-owned structure aligns the brand with its milk supply and gives it an authentic provenance story
- +Decades-long position as the top branded butter in the US
- +Profits return to approximately 1,100 member farm families rather than outside shareholders
- +Diversified parent spans dairy, feed, and crop inputs, cushioning commodity cycles
- +Direct connection to farm operations supports supply chain control and sustainability programs
Considerations
- -Kerrygold has closed to within a tie on branded butter dollar share
- -Private label butter outsells all national brands on unit volume
- -Cooperative structure limits access to public equity capital for expansion
- -Dairy commodity price swings directly affect member payouts and margins
- -Growth depends on a farm economy under pressure from weak crop prices
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Frequently Asked Questions About Land O'Lakes
Sources & Further Reading
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Competitors to Land O'Lakes
No direct competitors found in the same category. This could be because Land O'Lakesoperates in a unique market segment or we're still building our competitor database.
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