Federated Co-operatives Limited, is a co-operative federation providing procurement and distribution to member co-operatives in Western Canada. It was established in 1944 after a series of amalgamations of smaller cooperatives, starting in Saskatchewan, including the Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society and a fuel production and distribution co-op, the Consumers’ Co-operative Refinery Limited. Federated had expanded to Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia by 1970. Federated Co-operatives is owned by about 365 member co-operatives across the region. Some are large co-operatives, such as Saskatoon Co-op and Calgary Co-op, while others are small co-ops based in small towns, such as Abernethy Co-op. In 2009, FCL was ranked as the largest co-operative in Canada by total sales. In 2010, FCL was the second largest company by annual sales in Saskatchewan. During that year, it earned revenues of 498 million and returned $355.7 million to its member retailers. In 2008 Federated Co-operatives saw sales increase and posted its 37th record year in a row for both sales and profits.
History
FCL purchased Downie Street Sawmills of Revelstoke, British Columbia in 1969. The forest products operation replaced a Smith, Alberta, business FCL sold in 1977. The United Co-operatives of Ontario were purchased by Growmark in 1994, since operating as FS. In March 2010, Federated Co-operatives announced an agreement with SeaChoice, a program of Sustainable Seafood Canada devoted to sustainable seafood. Through collaboration, the organizations seek to develop a long term sustainability strategy for seafood sales and procurement in the co-operatives' member businesses. Federated Co-operatives was awarded the SABEX Environmental & Sustainability award from the Greater SaskatoonChamber of Commerce in May 2010. In November 2012, FCL sold its Forest Products Division operations in Canoe, British Columbia to Gorman Bros. Lumber. In August 2013, FCL acquired 17 agri-business locations across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and one in Manitoba, from Viterra, which was in the process of selling its Canadian agriculture business to Agrium. All the stores were, in turn, sold to local FCL-affiliated co-operatives except two which FCL retained and later closed. In February 2014, Federated Co-operatives acquired 14 grocery store locations from Sobeys; the divestment was to comply with requirements imposed by the Competition Bureau in the wake of its 2013 acquisition of Safeway. These stores, which were mainly former Safeway locations, were given to local FCL-affiliated co-operatives and re-branded as Co-op stores in May 2014. The acquisition notably marked the first time since 1983 that Red River Co-op had operated grocery stores in its footprint. In August 2019, FCL member Calgary Co-op announced that Overwaitea Food Group would supply the products for its grocery stores beginning April 2020, rather than FCL. FCL executives criticized the move for their decision to be supplied by a privately-owned competitor, and having a potential impact on the group's overall business. In December 2019, Unifor called for a national boycott of all Federated Co-op operations due to an ongoing lockout and hiring of replacement workers to replace workers at Co-op's Regina refinery.
Federated Co-operatives markets several store brands at its affiliated retailers, including Co-op Gold, Co-op Gold Pure, Co-op Market Town, Co-op Centsibles, Co-op Care+, Co-operative Coffee, and Lucky Dragon.
