Midland Marketing Booklet

Mid l

-op Co

arketin M d g n a

2015

er

st

ro

m Fa r

n g.

1915

Fo

un

d e d. C e n t

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A commemorative history of Midland Marketing Cooperative 1915 - 2015

General Managers

Vance Westhusin

2

Ken Herman

1993 -

1971-1993

Dan M. Pfeifer

Walter Stanton

1934-1971

1919-1934

First Board of Directors Louis Kraus James Ross Joe P. Rupp

Alex J. Herklotz William Gottschalk Nick A. Pfannenstiel

Charter T. A. Werth N. B. Zimmerman Thebold Bieker Alex Zimmerman Felix Werth A. D. Zimmerman Anton Werth J. A. Dinges James Ross F. W. Kraus Geo. Bellman H. W. Byress Alouis Rupp John Mier Joe Binder F. A. Pfannenstiel P. P. Gross Casper Leiker Nick A. Pfannenstiel John Engel Frank H. Atwood Frank Schoendaller M. L. Moore James A. Swires Igna A. Sack Martin Orth G. C. Riedel

Gus A. Riedel P. J. Gabel T. A. Werth

Members

Alex Pfannenstiel A. J. Gabel P. J. Gabel Frank P. Unrein Joe Ruder F. P. Brungardt Paul Dreher H. W. Joy J. P. Rupp G. A. Riedel J. R. Chittenden W. H. Truan Ed Belander Louis Gottschalk John Zimmerman Henry Gottschalk A. F. Werth J. J. Werth J. P. Ruder Anton J. Werth Paul Dinges John Lattigan J. H. Kraus Jacob Rogh Peter Grabbe John M. Leiker A. C. Wassinger

A. J. Herklotz Carl Werth N. R. Werth N. Zimmerman T. W. Werth J. C. Werth William Gottschalk Carl Dinges J. H. Chlopek C. T. Moore W. A. Campbe Joe D. Unrein A. W. Mier A. J. Kraus Nick J. Pfannenstiel John Rupp Joseph Engel Nick Zimmerman Matthias Grabbe Jacob F. Schoendaller C. A. Hawks J. C. Haddock Matt Truan John Sites Louis Kraus Joe Bahl

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A century of

History

In 1906, a few progressive farmers saw the need for a farmer-owned and operated grain elevator. This was the first attempt to organize a co-op in the Hays area. Through their efforts and activity, they joined what they called The Farmers Grain Shipping Association. The farmers around Hays subscribed purchased an elevator and warehouse. They contracted with the Kansas Flour Mill Company of Enterprise, Kansas, to operate these facilities. Financial trouble caused the elevator to fail and the assets were bought by Kansas Flour Mill.

With the help of the Farmers Union and local organizations in the area, another organizational effort was started in 1914 and the Farmers Cooperative Association was successfully incorporated. Midland Marketing obtained their charter on January 6, 1915 in Hays under the name of Farmers Cooperative Association (of Hays). This generic name was used by many co-ops organized in the early 1900s and a few of those early co-ops still bear this name. The name was changed to Midland Marketing Co-op, Inc. in 1993.

A board of nine directors was elected from the original 81 founding members. They purchased the elevator and related facilities that the earlier failed co-op had sold to Kansas Flour Mill. They bought the elevator that the Farmers Shipping Association built in 1906 from Kansas Flour Mill for $5,000. The charter members raised $10,000 of capital to finance the new business venture.

Trouble beset them five years later when a neighboring business’s gasoline storage tank exploded, causing a fire that burned down all their facilities, including an added coal shed. The farmers in the area raised $25,000 to not only rebuild the facilities, but to also purchase another elevator in Yocemento for $7,500 from Hays City Flour Mill.

In the early 1930’s a bulk gasoline and oil distributing business was established as farmers began switching from horse power to tractor power.

The great depression peaked in 1933 and the co-op nearly went bankrupt. They survived this time of financial trouble, poor crops, and dust storms with the help of the Wichita Bank for Cooperatives and the commitment of their members. In 1935, the company installed a feed grinding and mixing business. This was used to process and mix dairy, hog, and poultry feeds.

This proved to be a money-maker for the company. Shortly after this, the company established a service station at the corner of Ninth and Pine Streets to better serve it’s customers.

In 1936, the company started to buy cream on a commission basis until 1941 when they installed their own testing and handling equipment and began buying cream independently which proved to be a profitable change.

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The stock cooperative association decided to change to a 100 percent membership-basis beginning in 1939. This change helped the company comply with the the state and federal laws that govern cooperatives. At that time the membership fee was set at $10.

The growth of the business accelerated during and after World War II. Membership had expanded from the original 81 charter members to 176 in 1938 and 1,000 in 1943. Today Midland Marketing has 978 owner members and serves over 4,100 customers.

Storage capacity for wheat had become problematic, causing the company to expand numerous times in the 1940s and 1950s by leasing facilities in Hays and Toulon. In 1947, the company constructed the first concrete elevator in Hays with 200,000 bushel capacity. Additional storage was built in 1950 and 1954, raising capacity to 865,000 bushels.

The first merger took place in 1957 with the Plainville Oil cooperative. Numerous grain elevators were built in the late 1950s including branch elevators at Yocemento, Plainville and Toulon. By 1960, the four elevator locations had a storage capacity of about 3.6 million bushels.

Midland Marketing merged with three other co-ops: Zurich in 1966, Natoma Cooperative Association in 1982, and Farmers Union Cooperative of LaCrosse in 1992 (which included facilities in Hargrave and McCracken).

In 2004, Midland Marketing leased facilities from Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) in Palco, Brownell, and McCracken. The company bought the facilities from ADM six years later in 2010. Today there are grain elevators in all eleven locations with a total storage capacity of over 9.6 million bushels.

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Current Board of Directors

Tom Benoit 1990 -

Brian Staab

John Irvin

1991 -

1993 -

LesLie Rogers

Mike Werth

2003 -

2005 -

Doug Keas

Duane Dorzweiler

Damion Dix

Rod Marcott

2010 -

2010 -

2010 -

2006 -

Hays

Yocemento

Toulon

Plainville

Zurich

Natoma

Lacrosse

Hargrave

Mccracken

15

Palco

Brownell

Past

Board Members

Louis Kraus

H. W. Joy

NIck Pfannenstiel

Joe p. Rupp

1915-1919 & 1919-23

1915-1919

1915 & 1916-1919

J. R. Chittenden

William Gottschalk

Peter J. Walter

Gus Riedel

1919

1919-1920 & 1929-1939

1919-1923

1921-1924

George johnson

R. A. Leiker

Joe Bahl

R. D. Joy

1924-1942 & 1943-1957

1925-1934

1925-1926 & 1929-1943

1915-1918

18

1921-1951

Adie Crissman

C. W. Kraus

1927-1930

1929-1959

Harry Kirkman

O. M. StraIley

Frank E. Karlin

1913-1934

1931-1950

Hans Jensen

Paul J. SchMidt

A. C. Wasinger

1934-1943

1936-1951

1939-1948

Walter C. Joy

John P. Gross

Peter W. Johnson

1944-1953

1943-1945

1951-1952

William Johnson

Felix Roth

Fidelis Engel

Ray Wasinger

1946-1958 & 1960-1966

1948-1959 & 1962-1968

1950-1958

1934-1943

Alex Schmidt 1942-1960 & 1962-1968

1951-1957

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Benno Karlin

Joe Luecke

1952-1958 & 1964-1967

1954-1957 & 1959-1962

1956-1962 & 1963-1969

1957-1963

Walter R. Joy

Adam Garvert

Alois Binder

Frank polifka

1958-1964

1958-1964

1958-1964

norman Johnson

Alex Gross

Clarence Hageman

kenneth Kraus

1959-1965 & 1968-1972

1963-1968

1964-1968

1964-1970

James Hrabe

Francis C. Staab

ora Baldwin

Fidelis Engel Jr.

1966-1970

1966-1970

1967-1973

1957-1963 & 1970-1976

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Alphonse Gross

Fidelis Befort

1965-1968

Herman Davis

Robert Towns

Walter Urban

1968-1970

1968-1974

1969-1975

RICHARD DECHANT

DELBERT WALTERS

DUANE LAMBERT

1970-1977

1971-1977

1972-1978

John Schmidt

richard pfeifer

Adolph Billinger

1980-1986

1975-1981

1975-1981

Raymond Armbrister

Leo walter

Robert KRiley

Cliff Pfannenstiel

1976-1985

1977-1983

1977-1980

1969-1976

Paul Binder 1973-1982

ALBERT KELLER 1969-1975

JOHN KRAUS

1978-1993

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Melvin Keller

wayne Armbrister

1974-1980 & 1986-1989

1980-1983

1981-1987

1982-1994

Donald Casey

Richard Kreutzer

Glenn Lambert

Ron Westhusin

1985-1991

1987-1990

1988-1991

Orville PFortmiller

Mike Grabbe

Duane Steeples

Arlyn north

1989-1992

1989-1995

1991-1997

1995-1998

Frank Joy

Charles W. Kraus

harold Lowry

Jerry Mcreynolds

1997-2003

2002-2004

1994-2006

1983-1989

22

charles l. Schmidt

Orville Haselhorst

1981-2002

E. kent stamper 1976-1988 & 1992-2007

Norman Legleiter 1998-2010

Todd Wasinger

Bill Hoffman

2007-2010

1983-2013

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Your crops, Your Company,

Your Profits, All Local.