Dorchester Times: Farmers Cooperative Continues Its Growth

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Farmers Cooperative Continues Its Growth

It's hard to believe that Dorchester's Farmers Cooperative was once just another small grain elevator on a line of the Burlington Rail Road.

The Times has learned that Farmers Cooperative -- which has blossomed into a full service organization with products and services offered in energy, grain, feed, and agronomy -- is about to get a little bigger.

Beattie Farmers Union Cooperative of Beattie, Kansas, saw its stockholders vote last week to merge with Farmers' Cooperative. While headquartered in Dorchester, Farmers Cooperative now owns more than 50 other facilities in eastern and central Nebraska, as well as northern Kansas.

At last check, Farmers Cooperative was one of nine Nebraska cooperatives that were ranked among the 100 largest in the country, according to a report by National Cooperative Bank. Last fall, the NCB list ranked Dorchester-based Farmers Cooperative at No. 75 based on revenue in 2014. It is the fourth largest ag-based co-op in Nebraska, just behind Aurora Co-op.

A story in the Marysville (Kansas) Advocate reports on the latest merger.

“I think it’s a pretty positive thing,” said Ron Velder, Farmers Cooperative CEO. Velder said the turnout likely reflected concern among stockholders about the farm economy, currently mired in low commodity prices.

A total 464 votes were cast, with 78 percent in favor, said Luin Berger, chairman of the Beattie Co-op board of directors.

Moving Beattie Co-op into the Farmers Co-op fold will give area farmers access to better services and improved facilities, Berger said.

“Hopefully we’ll improve services and get an agronomist out here to help farmers on crop input costs, chemicals, seed and variable planting rates,” Berger said. “Those are people we desperately need.”

1 comment:

AnonymousApril 14, 2016 at 12:43 PM
Having the Coop is huge for a town the size of Dorchester. However, bigger isn't always better. Before they grew so large, they were always paying around 5 cents less than Crete Mills, which is about 10 miles away. However, since they put in their rail car siding and grown larger, that difference has increased. A check today shows they are 14 cents less than Crete and for new crop corn, they are paying 15 cents less. This means our corn is going to Crete, but if you do not have storage, you are stuck with Coop, where they will charge you storage and pay you less for your grain. The Coop has lowered input costs, now they just need to be more competitive in what they pay for the grain they buy.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."