Progress 2017: Agriculture

Minot Daily News SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2017

Agriculture

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CHS-SUNPRAIRIE:

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Upgrades are constant for evolving ag cooperative

Jill Schramm/MDN

CHS-SunPrairie general manager Brad Haugeberg comments on a photo held by operations manager Larry Aberle, showing the cooperative’s first 52-car train of spring wheat to the Pacific Northwest, loaded in Minot in December 1980 after passage of the Staggers Act deregulated railroads. At left is multi-commodity and project manager Jeremy Burkhart and at right, Jeff Heil, seed division manager with Dakota Agronomy Partners.

By JILL SCHRAMM • Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com

Bigger, fewer and faster is how CHS SunPrairie manager Brad Haugeberg describes the changes occurring in agriculture.

CHS SunPrairie has seen consolidation in the grain industry, and now with a network that extends from Bottineau to Garrison, the emphasis is on stepping up the pace to move at the speed of agriculture today.

“One of the things that has changed a lot about farming is the velocity and how we do business with our growers. They go faster. We have to go faster,” Haugeberg said.

He recalls the days when farmers would stand and chat with the elevator staff while leisurely waiting for grain to unload off the single-axle farm truck.

“Nobody was in an hurry,” Haugeberg said, contrasting with today’s semi-trucks

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that unload in minutes and are on their way.

“Today, they want to be in and out about as fast as they can,” he said. “We have to find ways to deliver and receive at a faster pace. We are loading 100- to 110-car trains in a matter of hours. Everybody is about velocity.”

At the same time as farmers are needing their grain terminals to offer efficiency and speed, CHS SunPrairie is seeing some of its

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Map-Source: CHS SunPrairie

Extension research goes to seed New seeding techniques may increase farm profitability

It’s not just the seed variety but how it’s planted that can influence yields and profitability.

North Dakota State University’s North Central Research Extension Center, Minot, is experimenting

By JILL SCHRAMM • Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com with seeding techniques to help area producers determine when changing things up might be beneficial for their operations.

Singulation, or the planting of individual seeds, is the latest technology the research center is following, said Eric Eriksmoen, research agronomist at the center.

Traditional seeding involves spilling seeds at a controlled rate out of a box. With the new technology, a vacuum pulls seeds through a plate with holes and drops those individual seeds into the soil.

“It gives us a more uniform placement of seeds. We are starting to understand now when a seed or seedling comes out of the ground, it senses its neighbors,” Eriksmoen said. Many plants can tell if a nearby plant is a weed or another of its kind, and they react negatively to that presence, he said.

“Canola is one of those plants. It needs to have its own space. If it’s too close to another canola plant, Submitted Photo one of them will die or multiple plants will die,” he said. In study- Strips are tilled for row crop seeding at North Central Research Extension Center. A new ing the literature and examining planting technique, strip tilling, is designed to warm soil while preserving moisture.

canola in the field, it’s been discovered only about half of seeds planted survive.

“That’s a big deal because farmers are paying $60 to $70 an acre for seed. If you are only getting half of that to survive, you are essentially losing $30 to $35 an acre,” Eriksmoen said.

Singulation already exists in planting crops such as peanuts. In southern states such as Georgia and Florida, producers are adapting that technology to their winter canola.

The manufacture and cost of equipment for northern crops has slowed adoption. The four-row seeder used at the research center was custom built from existing equipment.

“Part of the research is to understand what the plants are thinking, what the plants are comfortable with,” Eriksmoen said. “That’s part of what we don’t totally understand. We also know that soybeans like to have neighbors. Other soybean plants they feel comfortable with, but if it’s a weed in there, they don’t feel comfortable with the weed.”

Chad Anderson, seed production specialist at the center, said the research is driven by the types of questions producers are asking. InSee SEED — Page 4

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aging facilities reach the point where they can no longer keep up. In recent years, an upgrade to the Bowbells plant and new storage at the Minot facility have boosted the cooperative’s infrastructure.

CHS SunPrairie currently is building a new grain facility about two miles from Lansford that is expected to open in the spring of 2018. Most of the track is in and concrete work will be done this said Jeremy spring, Burkhart, multi-commodity and project manager at CHS SunPrairie. The site will have a 120-car loop track and provide 900,000 bushels of storage.

“It fills a void in our trade area,” Burkhart said. “Those farmers up there have to haul almost 30-40 miles one way. This fills in a gap or a hole for them for market access.”

Haugeberg said the Lansford facility will take wheat, beans and corn, which are grown on 70 percent of the acres in that area. The Mohall facility no longer would be used for those commodities but will continue to take other crops.

Geography is a consideration in rationalizing where to spend resources, Haugeberg said. In many cases, towns have grown around grain elevators, and the trend is to build new facilities away from town so traffic, noise and air quality don’t become concerns, he said.

Along with building facilities suited to modern agriculture, grain elevators must comply with regulatory rules from various federal agencies and keep up with the latest technology.

Joystick controls on carloading equipment and scanners that read bar codes on rail cars and feed information to equipment are among the technological advances.

Burkhart said not only is grain handling faster but so is market knowledge. Transactions that used to go through a grain broker now are made instantly over the internet. By the time elevator merchandizers would pick up the phone and get their transactions on the trading floor, the price could change 10 cents, he said.

Now merchandizers can sit at their desks and see markets trading instantly on a computer screen.

It also is a different era from the days when towns used to have several eleva-

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CONSTRUCTION HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE COOPERATIVE INCLUDE:

HISTORY OF MANAGERS: 1915: Sever Soine 1929: Hjalmer Sjordahl 1931: M.S. Dunn (less than a month) 1931: C.W. Jordahl 1948: Walter Abrahamson 1973: Robert Knutt 1985: William Martin 1987: Alvin “Buzz” Varty 1997: Brad Haugeberg

tors, farm numbers were plentiful and grain was harvested with threshing machines.

Looking back at early minutes of the cooperative, the big issue at the annual pre-planting planning meeting was how much twine to order to accommodate the crop that would need to be shocked, Haugeberg said.

Now spring planning meetings focus on how many railcars to order for the different crops.

CHS SunPrairie traces its roots to Minot Farmers Cooperative Elevator, founded in August 1915. It became Farmers Union Elevator of Minot in 1952. In 1997, the Farmers Union Elevator of Minot merged with Harvest States Cooperatives and formed a new regional division called SunPrairie Grain, now CHS SunPrairie.

Harvest States Cooperatives and Cenex merged in 1998 to form Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives, now known as CHS. In the mid- to late fifties, smaller elevators began seeing financial strain. In 1956, the Wolseth elevator merged with Farmers Union Elevator of Minot. It was the first of several mergers and later acquisitions that continued into the 1990s.

Throughout the years there have been 29 elevator locations under the cooperative’s name. Today, with fewer producers in the field, there are 10 elevator locations in eight towns, a feed facility, an agronomy center and a sunflower bagging facility that together employ about 150 people.

Consolidations don’t mean there’s not competition in the industry, though. The need to continually become better hasn’t diminished despite the streamlined, techsavvy, faster operation that already exists.

“We are going to have to keep making improvements on those facilities,” Haugeberg said. “I don’t see the pace slowing down. We are just going to have to continue to do upgrades.”

Source: CHS SunPrairie

Main Minot

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Minot East

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1916 – The first elevator was built at 318-1st Ave. NE. 1917 – A warehouse for feed and seed was built.

1929 – A 50,000-bushel annex for grain storage was built.

1940 – The cooperative added 200,000 bushels of storage.

1951 – Patrons voted to construct a new 172,000-bushel facility. The new elevator was completed on Oct. 28, 1952, for $257,000, with the mortgage paid off two years later.

1958-59 – A new receiving elevator was built in southeast Minot and a 200,000-bushel flat steel storage space was created.

1960 – A 500,000-bushel steel storage building was constructed.

1963 – A new seed warehouse was built in Minot, and a new elevator was built to replace the elevator destroyed by fire in Carpio.

1975 –Stockholders approved construction plans for a 300,000-bushel capacity elevator on the #2 site in southeast Minot. The new concrete structure, now considered the “Minot Main,” included high-speed loading equipment with a capacity of 30,000 bushels per hour and grain drying equipment. The main office was moved to this site in November 1977.

1979 – A new certified seed plant was completed after fire destroyed the #2 elevator in August 1978.

1980 - A new hammermill and bins were built to replace the Glenburn Elevator, destroyed by fire in 1979.

1982 – A 530,000-bushel concrete annex was erected at the Minot Main, bringing the storage capacity at that location to 830,000 bushels.

1986 – An addition was built to the seed plant.

1993 – The Mohall elevator, destroyed by a fire in 1992, was rebuilt.

2006 – Dakota Agronomy Partners completed construction on one of the region’s largest dry fertilizer plants in Minot, and a sunflower bagging facility was opened.

2008 – Two new vertical bins went up at the southeast Minot location to replace a 250,000-bushel Behlen flat storage bin that collapsed in 1998 and a 500,000-bushel flat storage bin that was torn down.

2009 – Two 720,000-bushel bins were constructed at the main plant in southeast Minot for $5 million. Due to bolts that had sheared off over winter, one of the bins collapsed the next spring. The force of the grain upended nearly 20 railroad cars that arrived a couple hours earlier as part of a 100car shuttle train. Replacement bins were finished that summer. Total cost of the cleanup, lost business and construction of new bins reached $5 million.

2013 – Groundwork started in May for a new office on 13th Street Southeast, which also houses Dakota Agronomy Partners staff. Construction also started on a 25,000-ton dry fertilizer plant in Bowbells.

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Family business Scheresky Ag Service formed out of necessity

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quiries have caused researchers to look more closely at singulation, row spacing, plant spacing and tilling techniques.

For instance, corn is generally planted in rows 30 inches apart. Research is investigating the results with twin rows, which consist of two row strips planted together with staggered plants. Each two-row strip then is planted 30 inches apart. Researchers want to know if the technique will enable more corn to share a particular space without negatively affecting the crop’s growth.

“It works with peanuts. There’s a fair amount of work being done on corn, and we have used it on corn. I like it on corn,” Eriksmoen said. “We have tried some of it with canola. It didn’t seem to be a crop that responded, but it was one year. We really need to look at it a little more.”

Another technique being studied is strip tilling. Crops that can handle cooler weather, such as canola, do well in no-till situations, where residue holds soil moisture but keeps soil cooler. Corn needs warmth to germinate and grow, yet also needs moisture.

The solution being tested is to till just a strip where the seeds will be placed, leaving the area between rows with residue. Tilling can be done in the fall and fertilizers placed in the tilled row.

Strip tilling is used in various parts of the country, particularly in the corn belt. Some producers in central North Dakota also are trying it, Anderson said.

Again, it’s the cost of equipment, labor and fuel that farmers need to pencil out before they decide to jump in, Eriksmoen said. However, he added, “I think it holds some promise for us up here.”

Another hot topic when it comes to seeding is whether to plant a cover crop. In western North Dakota, where the weather is hotter and drier, Eriksmoen said, there is some reluctance to use cover crops because they consume moisture. Producers who use cover crops like them for their ability to build soil and organic matter and bring nitrogen to the surface. Cattle grazing can be an added benefit for livestock producers.

Anderson said some farmers are having aerial applicators seed over a small-grain crop a few weeks before harvest. The tiny seeds of radish, turnip or millet populate well in those fields.

Like any new techniques or tech-

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By MARK JONES

Staff writer • mjones@minotdailynews.com

Submitted Photo

Faba beans, shown in this photo from North Central Research Extension Center, are a new crop being experimented with in the region. nologies, producers want to know exactly what the gains are with cover crops before they commit themselves. That’s where the research comes in.

“We need to quantify it. Up to this point in time, we really haven’t quantified what those cover crops are doing. Are we getting a yield benefit?

If you are, what is that yield benefit?

Are you truly improving organic matter? If you are, what is it?”

While the research center examines planting options, private companies are looking into seed technologies to develop better, more drought-resistant or high-yielding varieties.

Eriksmoen said he expects in the next three years to see hybrid spring wheat – something that has been talked about for 30 years. That could make yields of 80 to 100 bushels an acre common, versus current typical yields of 50 to 60 bushels, he said.

Because hybrids don’t reproduce

from their own seed, it means going back to the supplier each year, and seed costs typically are higher. But hybrids already are commonly used with crops such as corn.

The research center continues its work with carinata, an oil-seed crop being researched for fuel, and with faba beans. Faba beans, raised for centuries in different parts of the world, are new to North Dakota.

Often used as livestock feed, research is ongoing on how much of the highprotein bean can be used in animal feed rations.

Meanwhile, there is interest in faba beans as a food ingredient because of its high protein content, both for human and pet consumption. The limited market demand currently is discouraging much planting of the crop. Researchers at North Central are investigating the best growing conditions and the type of chemicals that can be used safely and effectively with the beans.

You could almost say that Scheresky Ag Service wasn’t originally in the cards for owners Galen and Bonnie Scheresky.

It was formed out of necessity.

The business, which is located four miles north of Max and 25 south of Minot, came about after the Schereskys became frustrated over their inability to find a custom applicator for the crop of pinto beans that they grew.

Scheresky Ag Service, which was established in April 1999, offers seeds and incoculants, protection products and fertilizer.

In the beginning, however, the company offered only custom spraying and they purchased planting supplies from other companies. Two years later, in 2001, the Schereskys built their store, a small warehouse.

“It mushroomed from there,” Bonnie Scheresky said in a press release provided to the Minot Daily News. “We kept trying to be a resource for our customers and added new products and services to help them be successful in their operation.”

In addition to running the family business, the Schereskys also continue to farm a variety of crops. On a farm near their business, the Schereskys grow peas, canola, durum, wheat, soybeans and corn.

Scheresky Ag Service started out very small when it was established 18 years ago. Today, the company has 14 full-time employees on staff, with another dozen seasonal workers during the summer months.

“Part of the business success is that we are also farmers,” Bonnie Scheresky said.

Farming has been a family tradition for the Schreskys. Galen Scheresky, who wanted his own farm since he was 10 years old, is a third-generation family farmer.

While Galen Scheresky has accomplished many of the goals he set out to, he has his sights on achieving even more.

“I reached my goals and readjusted them to make new goals,” he said in a press release.

Bonnie Scheresky grew up on a dairy farm in the Langdon area.

“It’s been an interesting, challenging and rewarding turn of events for me to end up in agronomy,” she said.

“I really enjoy it. I love working with farmers and feeling like I’m making a difference for them.”

The Schereskys also try to involve their own children in the family business.

However, there is a fine line there, and the Schereskys try not to cross it.

“We’ve tried not to push them into anything in particular,” Bonnie Scheresky said. “But if they don’t ever learn the industry, it would be difficult for them to choose to go into it. We try to expose them to as much as we can.”

While it’s hard to say for sure what the financial future holds, the Schreskys are experts on the agriculture economy in their area, allowing them to work with farmers, who might be in different financial situations.

“Everyone has to reevaulate their operations and make changes in response to the falling commodity prices,” Bonnie Scheresky. “In the end, it will all make us better managers.”

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Enerbase Cooperative Resources, located at 205 46th Avenue NE in Minot, sells a variety of farming equipment, one of several aspects to the business.

Enerbase Cooperative Resources still going strong after 89 years

By MARK JONES • Staff writer • mjones@minotdailynews.com

Enerbase Cooperative Resources has played an important part in both the energy and agriculture industries in central North Dakota for a number of years.

ECR is a multi-faced business with a hand in petroleum, propane, lubricants, agronomy, car care and machinery parts.

The lubricants offered include engine oils, tractor fluids, transmission fluids, gear oils/hydraulic oils, specialty products and grease products.

The company, in business since 1928, has grown in many ways, shapes and forms, to include 11 Cenex gas stations, with seven of those businesses being in Minot. ECR also has service stations in Washburn, Glenburn, Washburn and Hazen.

There is a variety of fuels offered through the Cenex stations, including Cenex gaso-

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lines, Cenex Roadmasters, Cenex Ruby Fieldmaster, Cenex Wintermaster and Renewable Fuels.

And after 89 years in business, the ECR is still going strong.

“It’s going great,” said Rick Aberle, chief operating officer for ECR. “We just built new offices north of town. We are feeling it a bit from the gas with fewer people in town.”

And while fuel is the strength of ECR’s business, it does deal with agronomy.

Aberle says the company spends 20 percent of its business on agronomy. ECR is in partnership with Dakota Agronomy in the Minot area, but it also has four agronomy businesses in the Washburn area.

Aberle says ECR has farming equipment available for purchase.

“We do sell equipment, but that’s not a

big part of a business,” he said.

But to those in need of equipment, ECR offers a variety of equipment to help make the job easier for farmers. The equipment they offer includes: Meridian hopper bins, Wheatheart post pounders and B&B anhydrous trailers and sprayer trailers.

ECR also offers shortline equipment such as augers, conveyors and carts.

Still, the company focuses on inputs such as seed, fertilizer and chemicals to help the farmers get the growing season started.

With the business running as well as it is, Aberle hinted that expansion may be coming in the future for ECR. The company currently employs 160 individuals at various locations throughout the region.

“I would say yes,” he said. “Expand into other areas, maybe not other services.”

According to its website, ECR was founded by a group of local citizens, who had looked into the possibility of starting up a cooperative oil company. After failing as a stock company, the original founders, looking at the high costs of petroleum products, invited farmers to participate in it. In June 1928, by-laws were adopted and a board of directors was appointed. Each member was sold two shares of stock at $25.

So after being in business for nearly a century, what has been ECR’s secret to success?

“Part of it is being a cooperative,” Aberle said. “People who own it will participate in it. And whatever profits we make go back into the ownership.”

For more information on the company, visit its website at enerbase.coop.

Mark Jones/MDN

The Gooseneck Implement Business Center, located at 800 31st Avenue SW in Minot, is one of nine locations in the region, helping farmers get the job done. Gooseneck Implement also has a second location in Minot, and also has businesses in Harvey, Kenmare, Mohall, Rugby, Stanley, Velva and Williston.

Gooseneck Implement still going strong

By MARK JONES • Staff writer • mjones@minotdailynews.com

For more than four decades Gooseneck Implement has played a important role in the farming industry in North Dakota.

And it will continue to do so for years to come.

Gooseneck Implement was founded in 1974 by Kevin Borud, who currently serves as the company’s chief operating officer. The company first started out as a community company in Kenmare, but Borud bought the company from his father and since the expanded the company.

Gooseneck provided the latest John Deere equipment to farmers in western and central North Dakota.

“We represent about a third of the farmers in North Dakota,” said Heather Milbrath the company’s marketing director.

Gooseneck has a large variety of equipment to meet the demands of the farming industry.

“That is a big part of the business,” Milbrath said.

The company offers tractors, harvesters, hay balers, mower implements and combines to help in the agriculture industry.

Gooseneck also offers

equipment for smaller use.

Gooseneck also offers utility tractors and Gator utility vehicles for use on large property.

Gooseneck also provides residential equipment such as riding mowers and zeroturn mowers.

Milbrath also says Gooseneck also provides servicing for all of its equipment to help the farmers stay on schedule.

“We have strived to give the customers the best service we can,” Milbrath said.

Gooseneck even stays busy during the winter months as it provides a variety of snow-removal equipment, including tractor snowblowers, skid steer snowblowers and lawn tractor snowblowers.

With the growth of the agriculture industry in the state, Gooseneck has also spread to a variety of locations throughout the western half of the state. In addition to the two locations in Minot, Gooseneck currently has locations in Harvey, Stanley, Kenmare, Velva, Mohall, Williston and Rugby.

And while it seems the agriculture industry will only

continue to grow moving into the future, Milbrath says Gooseneck has no plans for expansion in the future.

“We’re currently sitting good where we are,” she said.

“We cover from Williston to Rugby, so we cover a third of the state.”

When Gooseneck first started out, it employed just a handful of people. With eight stores in the region, it now employees a little more than 300 individuals.

With the winter months spent keeping snow removalequipment up and running, Milbrath says the 300 employees stays pretty steady throughout the entire year.

“It’s nice,” she said. “It seems like a lot of people, but with eight stores you get to know the people.”

Milbrath also says the number of employees may rise during the summer months with internships.

Gooseneck business will likely continue to grow in the months to come.

Earlier this year, John Deere announced an extension on parts and labor warranties for agriculture and turf equipment.

John Deere has extended its warranties to 12 months

on parts and labor when installed by Gooseneck. There is also a six-month warranty on non-dealer customer-installed parts.

For additional information on the products and services provided by Gooseneck Implement, check out its website at www.gooseneckimplement.com.

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Rugby elevator slowly grew over the years

United Quality Cooperative: Ag cooperative merger strengthens community services

NEW TOWN – Formed through the merger of two agricultural cooperatives, United Quality Cooperative celebrated its first anniversary April 1 as it prepares to soon open a new Ag Retail Center in New Town.

The Ag Retail Center, expected to make a soft opening late this month or in early May, is an example of what can happen when two strong cooperatives come together to form an even stronger cooperative.

“What it really entails is to bring together two very, very healthy balance sheets and create a cooperative that has a great deal more diversity than a lot of co-ops,” said UQC president Cameron Erickson.

UQC’s diversity’s extends into both agriculture and energy, North Dakota’s two major commodity industries.

That diversity will be apparent at the Ag Retail Center.

Located on the north end of New Town, near the new truck bypass, the new building will have gas and diesel pumps, a convenience store, food court, off-sale alcohol, hardware store and lumber.

Additional services could be coming in the future to the 90,000-square-foot building.

The center also will bring scattered employees into a headquarters office on the building’s upper level.

A grand opening at the center is planned for fall.

UQC plans for the store to eventually be central to busy commercial district. The cooperative owns other property at the location that will be sold for commercial uses, allowing for development of the area as the State of North Dakota works to complete the remainder of a truck bypass by the end of 2019.

The retail center will create efficiencies, and efficiencies are what keep costs low and help cooperatives weather the cyclical nature of commodity industries, Erickson said.

“The other thing – the biggest thing overall is you have to continue to draw in good people. That’s number one,” he said. Mergers have a number of benefits for the bottom line but often overlooked is the increased ability to attract educated, topnotch employees into the new work environment, he said.

“That strengthens the coop in a big way,” Erickson said.

The cooperative employs close to 150 people. To ensure a workforce, UQC opened a 38-unit apartment for staff in 2014, bringing its total employee housing to 79 units, of which most is in New Town. Erickson said the housing was a response to a residence shortage created during the recent oil boom.

UQC’s history is one of responding to economic change with new cooperation efforts. The merger of Dakota Quality Grain and United Prairie Cooperative on April 1, 2016, brought together two cooperatives with roots going back about 100 years.

Dakota Quality Grain Cooperative was formed in 1993, when the members of Parshall Farmers Union Cooperative Elevator (established in 1915), Ross Farmers Elevator Company (1916) and Farmers Union Elevator of New Town (1928) voted to consolidate.

Parshall Farmers Union Cooperative Elevator consisted of the community’s two remaining grain elevators, agronomy services and the local Cenex station. Ross Farmers Elevator Company consisted of grain elevators in Stanley, Palermo and Ross and agronomy and feed services in Palermo and Ross.

Farmers Union Elevator of New Town consisted of two grain elevators, agronomy services and a lumber and feed store.

United Prairie Cooperative traces its roots to Farmers Union Oil Company of

By JILL SCHRAMM • Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com

By ANDREA JOHNSON

Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.com

Sanish, established in 1929 after 196 investors put up $7,400 to get started. Over time the cooperative was known as Farmers Union Oil of New Town, Cenex of New Town and eventually United Prairie Cooperative.

Today, with the addition of the new retail center, UQC will operate four C-stores – in Keene, Parshall and two in New Town. New Town currently has two stores but a downtown store will close and shift operations to the new store. The new store also will bring the existing hardware and lumberyards in New Town into the new location. The New Town vehicle service shop will continue at its current location.

Parshall also has a vehicle service shop.

The grain elevators in New Town, Parshall and Ross each have a place in United Quality’s marketing plan as well as providing more convenient service for the ag community, Erickson said. Having two elevators on Canadian Pacific Railway and one on Burlington Northern creates different shipping options for UQC and helps access different markets.

“We handle a lot of commodities that are very much needed. They are needed and they were needed 100 years before. They will be needed 100 years from now,” Erickson said.

The cooperative recently invested $6.5 million in the Ross elevator to improve speed of handling commodities and loading rail cars. A similar investment in the Parshall elevator is under consideration. Unlike years ago, elevators also must be equipped and staffed to move grain year-round, not just at harvest, Erickson said.

“The world is demanding a more uniform flow of any given product,” he said.

UQC also has operations that sell bulk fuels and propane in Keene, New Town and Parshall.

UQC is a partner in Bakken Transload and United Agronomy, although it is not directly involved in their management.

It is a lot of services spread over a wide location, but even with the ease of traveling longer distances these days, every facility must justify itself.

“But there’s no question that we need these locations.

People use them on a daily basis,” Erickson said. “We still want active and viable offices in as many locations we can.”

The future of those smalltown services may be brighter with the larger, stronger cooperative known as UQC to back them.

Erickson said the premise behind consolidation is economy of scale, investment capability and the ability to continue to give patrons a say in a market faced with competition from multi-national corporations.

Or quite simply, he stated, it’s part of staying relevant in a modern age.

RUGBY – Business at the Rugby Farmers Union Elevator has changed a lot since Duane Johnston started working there in 1964.

Johnston, who is now retired, said the elevator in Rugby was started in 1939 when a group of farmers got together and bought the old elevator in Rugby. In 1952, they expanded operations.

In the early 1960s, when Johnston started work there, farmers grew basic crops like wheat, durum, barley and oats.

“That was about it,” he said.

That gradually changed over the years, as farmers added more profitable crops.

Johnston took over as supervisor in 1981 and retired in 2001, but he still goes back every other month or so to visit people at the elevator. He said the Willow City elevator merged with Rugby Farmers Elevator in 1983. The Towner Farmers Elevator site was added in 1988.

“When we took in Willow, we hauled all the wheat from Willow,” he said. “Then we started handling sunflowers, safflowers, canola and confectionary sunflowers.”

The speed and amount of crops that could be loaded also increased over the years.

In the beginning, loading grain into rail cars was much slower.

“When I started, we’d load maybe six cars a day,” said Johnston. “...

When I took over, we’d load 26 cars.”

The elevator added on and was able to load more.

“Fifty-two cars at a time was the most I ever loaded,” said Johnston.

These days, Johnston said up to 110 cars can be loaded.

“We built an elevator that would load 52 cars in seven hours,” said Johnston. “Now they got 110 cars that they load in eight hours. Everything’s so much speeded up now.”

Johnston said technology also changed how things are done. Computers are involved in a process that used to require more work by hand.

There are fewer employees required now to do work that used to require a much larger number.

“They have two guys in each elevator now,” said Johnston. “I think I had 18 guys work for me.”

Since Johnston retired, Rugby Farmers Elevator has built a new elevator that can easily take in 150,000 bushels of grain.

Photos by Jill Schramm/MDN

TOP: Storage bins in New Town are part of the grain-handling side of United Quality Grain.

MIDDLE: Painters put finishing touches on a section of what will be the new C-store that will make its soft opening in New Town this month.

BOTTOM: A 90,000-square-foot building nears construction in north New Town. It will bring together various services of United Quality Cooperative, from convenience store and gas pumps to hardware and lumber.

RELAX & ENJOY A YARD FREE OF PESTS Controlling pests starts outside where their nests reside. You’ll need to go directly to the source. An ant colony is maintained by the queen, producing hundreds of ants.

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North Hill True Value 2215 16th St NW Minot 58703 701-857-4070

©2017 True Value® Company. All rights reserved.

Page 8

Minot Daily News PROGRESS Agriculture

Saturday, April 15, 2017