Launching a forestry cooperative with Timber Professionals Cooperative

Each year, CoBank evolves the Co-op Start grant program to meet the needs of emerging and innovative cooperative businesses. In 2025, CoBank awarded a Co-op Start grant to a timber industry cooperative for the first time. Timber Professionals Cooperative works to prevent timber mills in rural areas of Wisconsin from closing, preserving employment opportunities for logging and wood mill professionals to support lasting economic opportunities in the rural communities of Wisconsin.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the annual value of products from Wisconsin’s forest industry is over $24 billion, representing 2.3% of the state’s gross domestic product and employing about 58,000 individuals. In the past 25 years, a new trend has emerged in the region. The ownership of mills has shifted from family business owners to venture capital firms, private equity and international businesses that retain ownership for just five to seven years on average before selling the business again. This creates unstable economic conditions for workers in the logging industry and mills, as well as their local communities.

TPC formed to revitalize the forestry and wood product mill industries of Wisconsin by identifying mills for purchase by the cooperative to return decision making into the hands of logging industry professionals and community members. TPC supported the incorporation of a logger and logging trucker cooperative, the Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises, to develop a business plan and raise $400,000 in equity for the purchase of a chip mill in Tilleda, Wisconsin. TPCE has approximately 54 preferred stock investors, all but seven of whom are loggers or logging truckers who are member-owners and will patronize the mill.

TPCE closed on the Tilleda chip mill in October 2025 and held a grand opening that same month. The co-op's next steps are prioritizing investment in safety and environmental stewardship for the mill. TPCE aims to use the $50,000 Co-op Start grant to support its compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. TPCE will also implement best practices aligned with Sustainable Forest Initiative and Forest Stewardship Council standards, with particular attention to water quality protection and sustainable mill operations.

Both TPC and TPCE are receiving technical assistance from the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, which also received a grant of $25,000 for its support of this work. “The TPCE project is a perfect example of cooperative principle number seven in action,” shared UWCC executive director Courtney Berner, referencing concern for community. “TPCE is showing care for community in multiple dimensions by retaining and growing critical jobs and services that support healthy industries, communities and natural landscapes.”