Oklahoma City, Oklahoma--Plains Cooperative Oil Mill, a 61-year veteran in processing cottonseed in the Southern Plains, will begin this year processing canola, sunflowers and other oil seeds for food and biofuels.

"We want our cotton-growing clients in the Southern Plains and Mid-South to know we will continue to provide them with the same quality service we have for more than a half century," Gary Conkling, oil mill president and CEO, said.

Along with the Oklahoma City location, where the oil mill serves clients nationwide with cottonseed oil, cottonseed meal, cottonseed hulls, linters and whole cottonseed, Producers Cooperative has other locations in Kennett, Missouri; Osceola, Arkansas; and Covington, Tennessee, Conkling said.

Producers Cooperative Oil Mill has agreed to process oilseed grown by members of the Plains Oilseed Products Cooperative, a cooperative effort by the Land Grant universities of Kansas and Oklahoma as well as American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance Co., originally Oklahoma Farmers Union.

According to Gene Neatens, executive director of Plains Oilseed Products, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill will provide POP cooperators with a local, modern facility to process and market oil and other by products from Roundup Ready winter canola and sunflowers. Canola producers will have marketing contracts to determine what their oilseed is worth before planting time, Neuens said. Several local delivery points will be provided by the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill to help farmers save on transportation costs.