Birkey’s Farm Store, a 17-store Case IH dealer headquartered in Champaign, Ill., is now 100% employee-owned, as it has transitioned its business structure to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) as of Dec. 31, 2021.

“Our employees are the reason for our success and creating the ESOP will recognize and reward them for their efforts going forward,” said Mike Hedge, Birkey’s president and CEO. “Being employee-owned allows us to preserve our culture for many years in the future, and provides us a way to move forward seamlessly and achieve our goals, while preserving the service our customers have come to expect.”

“Recent research has shown companies who are ESOPs are typically faster, more productive, growing more, and more profitable with less turnover,” Mike Hedge shared. “These are all important to us as we enter into a new phase in the life of our organization. This will help in recruiting, retaining, and engaging employees as we move forward — I’m very pleased to announce Birkey’s is going into this new year 100 percent employee-owned.”