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1. The Bureau County Grain 

 Company's feed warehouse 

 at Princeton. 2. Shown 

 visiting the company presi- 

 dent. Gene Naffziger (right) 

 are former company man- 

 ager Ciiff Brandt (left) and 

 Farm Adviser Halsey Miles. 

 3. This is the coal yard at 

 Sheffield. Port of the eleva- 

 tor Is visible at left. 4. 

 This I* the elevator bought 

 by the company for the 

 Princeton area. 



By LEW REISNER 



Field Editor, lAA Record 



> 



Bureau Grain 



TyUbonA SiL&inji&A 



THE Bureau County Grain Company, a husky, young 

 cooperative, expects to do a million dollars worth of 

 business this year in grain, fertilizer, coal and Blue 

 Seal feeds. This is big business for a farmer-owned 

 company operating within one county, and doing 

 business for only a short time. 



The Bureau county company started buying and sell- 

 ing grain two years ago when it bought the 25,000-bushel 

 elevator and coal yards at Princeton. 



Later it took over the distribution of Blue Seal feeds, 

 fertilizers, and other farm supplies, from the Bureau Coun- 

 ty Service Company. 



This year the farmers' company added two elevators in 

 the northeast and northwest sections of the county. The 

 goal is "A Farm Bureau type cooperative elevator within 

 15 miles of every fanner in the county." ?,-. 



E. Y. Naflfziger, president of the Bureau County Grain Com- 

 pany, said that as soon as they purchased the Princeton elevator, and 

 before they had bought a bushel of grain, they were considered the 

 leading competitor in Bureau county. 



"I guess," Naffziger said, "that others know we mean business 

 this time because we've planned big enough. 



"In the past our local farmers' elevators have been too small. 

 Now, with our county, river, and later terminal elevators, we're 

 going to be big enough to compete. 



"We'll do things we just can't do in county elevators. We'll 

 be able to blend, for one thing, and that takes volume." 



Bureau is one of eight new Farm Bureau-type grain companies 

 in north central Illinois. Grain producers in Lee, Henry, Stark, 

 Peoria, Marshall-Putnam, La Salle, and Woodford counties are 

 banded together as the Prairie Grain Company. 



These eight counties will furnish much of the grain marketed 

 by the Prairie Grain Company through its new river elevator at 

 Hennepin, a second being built at Lacon, and a third to be built 

 at Ottawa. 



Farm leaders in Bureau county know their grain company 

 faces stiff competition. The established grain trade has reduced 

 margins in the Hennepin area on wheat to as little as one cent a 

 bushel. In southern Illinois, where they do not have this competi- 

 tion, margins on wheat are running to 20 cents a bushel. 



The elevators at Sheffield were largely farmer-owned and 

 were purchased by Bureau County Grain Company in an interest- 

 ing way. The Sheffield elevators called in their stock and paid it 

 off at par value plus two year's stock dividends. 



Then the Bureau grain company bought Sheffield's two ele- 

 vators and facilities, and authorized the sale of stock to cover the 

 investment. The stock was offered to Sheffield farmers and they 

 bought it all in a relatively short time. 



"We were pleased with the enthusiasm and interest shown by 

 the Sheffield board of directors who acted in behalf of the stockhold- 

 ers. We feel their reasoning was wise. In a way it was more of 

 a transfer than a sale. They were buying back their own property," 

 Naffziger said. 



"But more than this, they were putting into a larger unit, the 

 elevator they already had. They've got a county and state organiza- 

 tion backing them now. They'll have refunds and savings from a 

 county, state, and later, a national cooperative, to help them." 



C. P. Brandt, until recently manager of the Bureau grain co- 

 operative estimates that this year the cooperative will handle more 

 than $500,000 in grain, $110,000 in plant food, and $400,000 in 

 Blue Seal feeds and other farm supplies. 



The grain company not only buys grain for shipping but also 



{Continued on page 22) 



L A. A. RECORD 



