BEATRICE — When farmers bring their crops to their local Farmers Cooperative during harvest, a lot of it is trucked to Beatrice or another hub location, where it's then shipped out by train.
Beatrice and Dorchester are terminals on the BNSF Railway. There are also four Union Pacific railroad hubs.
“Most of the grain grown in this area is used for feed,†said Tyson Sekutera, grain originator for Farmers Cooperative, the farmer-owned company that has grown to 61 locations across southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas, most of them handling grain.
Dennis Kenning, sales and marketing manager, added that the coop doesn't always know where the grain will end up.
“We typically don’t know the end user of the grain, but our goal is to get the grain out of here to the people who need it," he said. "Some of it may go to the South for chicken feed, to the Northwest to dairies, and even to Mexico for export.
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“We want to offer our local farmers speed and space. In other words, they’re not waiting in long lines and we will have space for storage, getting them back in the field as soon as possible."
Kenning said as a company decides to increase storage capacity, it’s to help farmers.
“They keep producing more with the upgrades in equipment and we keep adding storage,†said Kenning. “We’re trying to get the most money we can for them. As we finish up with harvest, we’re hoping to get the piles picked up and keep it under cover to maintain the quality of the grain."
Sekutera said recent additions have been completed and are an asset for the business, farmers and communities alike.
“Farmers Cooperative just added a grain tube in Burchard," he said. "I don’t know of many other companies that invest millions of dollars in a small town in Nebraska."
In addition, Farmers Coop employs more than 600 people, providing a boost to the area economy.
“Even for those people who don’t understand or realize it, agriculture makes a huge impact on our lifestyle," Kenning said. "Our food is still a good value here in the United States, which makes it possible for them to have extra funds to spend on color televisions, cars or whatever. People in other countries spend all their money on food."