More Than A Field Day
Aug 05, 2025
By Amy Kinsler, Chief Experience Officer, Keystone Cooperative
Leading the real and perceived vision of how our customers and farmer-owners view us as Keystone is a role I don’t take lightly. While it’s a newer title that I have had the opportunity to add to my email signature – that of Chief Experience Officer – valuing the type of experience that you have with our 100-year-old Cooperative every time you engage with Keystone is not something new to our organization.What is new is how we have elevated ourselves to live up to Keystone’s values to Lead. Serve. Grow. Embrace. More than a sign adorning our branch hallways, these words serve not just as a reminder, but as a challenge, coupled with the need to stay relevant and to constantly evolve to bring value to the farm gate – especially when the term “value” means something different to each and every one of our farmer-members.
This summer, with value as our north star and little bit of scary packed in for fun (if you know me, you know I like to go big or go home), the Keystone team is embarking on a new challenge to elevate how we can meet our customers where they are. On August 12th at our Mt. Summit, Indiana branch and August 19th at our Malden, Indiana branch we will launch our one-day Co-op Classic events. Experiences created for everyone in mind, these events are less about sales and more about learning, exploring and thinking about the future of agriculture. Attendees will have the opportunity explore the ins and outs of each of our Keystone divisions – Energy, Grain, Agronomy and Swine and Animal Nutrition, learn from speakers talking about succession planning, technology and everything in between, meet with our partners and even collaborate with each other on Main Street while eating great food.
We take the responsibility of creating a farmer-centered experience seriously and realize that these events are an evolution from the tried-and-true farmer field days of the past. At the end of the day, though, if our farmer-members are constantly having to adjust and evolve to keep up with changing technology, consumer trends and political challenges, isn’t it in Keystone’s best interest to reflect on how we can do better? We certainly thought so.
Hope I’ll see you at Co-op Classic.
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