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CRAIG COOP: WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

By Bob Fitch

Single location coop elevators seem to fade into the sunset a little bit more every year, with merger after merger after merger. For many, that’s been a good route to increase buying power and profits. But there are always a few exceptions to the rule, a few fish who swim against the stream.

Farmers Cooperative Company (Craig Coop), now in its 113th year, is proud to be both an exception to the rule and a success swimming against the stream.

According to long-time delivery driver Jerome (Jerry) Puhl, working at Craig Coop has brought a lot of satisfaction. “When you've seen the place grow as much as it has in my 47 years, a guy feels like he accomplished something. Even though it’s a job, you’ve been a part of it. It took board members who believed we could do it – expanding and getting new business. They stuck their necks out, but it worked. The board takes pride in being a single location coop.”

Connie Hutton De Boom, who has been doing the accounting at Craig Coop for 46 years, agreed with Jerry. “Our shareholders like us the way we are.” A good share of the customer loyalty and ability to attract new business is the personal touch of being a single location and having employees who stick around a long time. “We're kind of like Cheers – everybody knows your name,” she said.

The longest serving employees at the coop, Jerry started in March 1976 and Connie started in January 1977. Jerry recently retired from his full-time delivery job, but was right back at work in a part-time slot the next week.

Almost Ready To Call It Quits

In the mid-‘70s, Jerry recollected that the board of directors was just about ready to throw in the towel. The coop’s net sales reached $300,000 in 1957, but stalled at that level through 1976. Connie said, “The place was pretty run down. We couldn't really get a loan from the bank. That’s pretty broke when the bank won’t loan you money. But we had a farmer who was well-to-do and he was our financial aid. He believed in the place. Plus there were some young people coming on the board who thought maybe they could bring this thing around.” Two of those board members from that era are still active members – Edgar Nicholson and Gerald Westhoff.

Another key factor in the coop’s upswing was the board’s hiring of John Becker, who started as manager less than two weeks after Jerry was hired. John had experience with Farmland Industries in Sergeant Bluff. He retired as manager in 2012.

Net sales grew 500 percent in the first year with the new team and attitude. Sales and net earnings continued in a gradual upward trend from there. By the co-op’s 75th anniversary in 1985, sales were closing in on $6 million per year. Today, annual sales exceed $100 million.

The trio hired in 1976 and 1977 was a tight-knit team. According to Connie, “It was only Jerry, John and me, you know. Everybody covered for everybody. Once in a while, I'd have to go out and throw bags. If something needed to be done, you just did it, whether it was in the job description or not.”

REMEMBER WHEN?

These days, Connie finds herself being the person who says “Remember when?” “So many things have changed. During harvest, there were lineups hours long because you only had so many pits. All the retired moms and dads would come sit in line and visit for hours and hours. That's when grain was hauled in little 150-bushel wagons. If a farmer got a 250-bushel gravity wagon, then he was uptown. Then they went to 350-bushel gravity wagons and then 500+ bushels. Then it was straight trucks and now a large percentage have semis. Harvest is fast-paced with larger and faster equipment. Now, if farmers or truckers have to sit in line 10 or 15 minutes, that’s a long time.”

In the 1980s, she had the coop hold off on adding computers for bookkeeping until a separated office was built – she already had enough trouble keeping the photocopier running with all the dust coming from the attached mill. “In 1996, the coop built an office and that's when we got our first computer. It's been a lifesaver. Before that, everything was done manually. During harvest, you'd have loads and loads of scale tickets and I would spend long hours just catching up.” A large task of better organizing member’s equity was also achieved.

Jerry also witnessed his individual workplace evolve – it’s gone from running a manual auger on a 7-ton feed box to running a 27ton high speed unload tractortrailer equipped with cameras and remotely-run controls. Jerry and others put a lot of labor through the old mill. He said the new automated mill was a nice upgrade. “I remember the day we did 100 ton of milling, and we thought we accomplished something, and it took 14 hours to do it.” Now 100 ton can be accomplished in two hours from the seat of a desk chair.

Jerry said one thing that hasn’t changed is that the Craig Coop board of directors has always valued its employees and treated them well. The longevity of employees is proof of that. Once somebody is hired, “They stick,” he said. A proof point might be that his son, Mike, has worked there for 13 years, running the feed mill for the coop today. Other long-time employees are Phil Niehus with 28 years of service and Owen Smith and Jay Becker, both at 24 years.

Embedded In The Community

Jerry grew up on his parent’s farm east of Chatsworth. Today, he and his wife, Judy, live on an acreage on the edge of Chatsworth. They have four children and six grandchildren. Being on his new part-time schedule, he plans to spend his free time fishing and helping his son, Alan, in his construction company. Their daughter, Jodi, lives in Hartford, S.D., and is a radiologist with Avera Health. Daughter Debbie lives in Hawarden and works on the post-op surgery floor at Mercy Hospital.

Connie has called Craig home her entire life. Her dad was a trucker and her mom was a registered nurse. She’s married to Dave De Boom. Between the two of them, they have five children and eight grandchildren. Her son, Brett Hutton, DNP, ARNP, is a practitioner at the clinic in Paullina, part of the MercyOne Health System. Dave’s son, Darren De Boom, is the owneroperator of Siouxland Outdoor Power in Ireton. Their daughter, Brooke De Boom, is a registered nurse working in the emergency room at Spirit Lake Regional Health Care.

Craig Coop is proud of its support of local communities and causes. Donations and other support is provided to multiple FFA programs, fire departments, town projects, livestock shows, and school programs.

Maintaining Traditional Values

General Manager Doug Schurr replaced John Becker in 2013. Doug has been at the forefront of some of the coop’s largest expansions, including the addition of 1.5 million bushels of storage, a large truck shed, a feed warehouse, and many efficiency upgrades. He said, “Every dollar spent here is for the members and spent with them in mind. For example, the grain receiving wait times are shorter because we invested in our member’s wants and needs. It is important to most patrons to have three things: Fast, quality service; familiar faces; and a good financial year resulting in paid dividends.”

Today, 530 members hold equity in the coop. The coop paid $890,000 in dividends in 2022 and deferred equity is paid current through 2015. The coop has 15 full-time and three part-time employees. Craig Coop is located on Highway C-12 in northern Plymouth County. In addition to grain marketing and storage, the coop also offers custom feed mixes, liquid supplements, nutrition consulting and other services.