Heppner gazette-times., November 06, 1980, SPECIAL SECTION, Page Page 3, Image 11

Special MCGG Section-Page 3
Morrow County Grain Growers - a story of growth
o
o
From its inception fifty
yearn ago in the gymnasium of
a local hinh school, the
Morrow County Grain Grow
ers. Inc., has been a Blory of
growth and expansion in
services to the wheat growers
of Morrow County.
Formed to give the local
farmer more leverage and
higher prices in the market
place, the grain Helling co-op
has, over the years, expanded
into many oilier areas of
service to the farmer.
Although selling wheat is
still its primary function, the
MCGG now offers a range of
services, from chemical and
fertilizer supplies and appli
cation to machinery sales and
service
Organized on a Tuesday
night. March 111. l!t:i(, in the
lone High School gymnasium
when 100 farmers pledged
lHli.lHN) bushels of wheat to
cooperative selling, the Grain
Growers this year handled six
million bushels of wheat from
nine elevators at seven locat
ions throughout the county.
The original capital stock in
the corporation was $25,000, of
which nearly all was sold at
$:to er share. This year the
co-op is a $2,700,000 operation
with over 4K memlM'rs. Paid
in capital in mill) was the
amount of $42,000 Shares are
i
)
Manufacturers Of Fine
still sold for $30.
Created through the Agri
cultural Marketing act passed
by Congress during President
Herbert Hoover' term, the
Morrow County Grain Grow
ers original officers were: H.
V. Smouse, president; R. W.
Turner, secretary; R.B. Rice,
George Peck, Ernest Heliker,
Bert Johnson and Floyd
Adams, directors and trus
tees. The MCGG offers farmers
storage space for 3.1 million
bushels of wheat, an amount
officers plan to increase with
additional elevators in the
future. Additionally, the cor
poration offers farmers the
services of a fertilizer and
chemical plant in lone, a hulk
petroleum plant in I,exington,
farm equipment, sales and
parts service at its main office
in Iexingtun, a hardware
store, sales and service of
domestic water pumps, and
sales and service of small
irrigation systems,
The corporation has also
grown over the years in
payroll and employees. It now
employs 35 people on a
permanent basis, and 45 to 50
during the harvest season.
This represents a payroll of
$(110,000 per year into the
community. Present general
manager of the Grain Grow
ers is Larry Mills.
Up until thirteen years ago
the Grain Growers had been
most exclusively engaged in
storage and marketing of
grain, however, in 1967 it
began to move into other
areas.
About the same time the
Grain Growers was formed in
1930, there was also another
co-op coming into being, this
one dealing in oil.
Formed on April 13, 1931,
the Lexington Oil Co-op began
purchasing gas and lubricat
Ill
1
:
mm
Corporation
Wood Products
ing oils in bulk quantity from
Portland, thus passing on
savings to many of the
farmers in the area who began
shifting their farming meth
ods from mule' teams to
tractors in the 1920's.
The farmers found that just
as with wheat, oil prices were
more to their advantage
through cooperatives,
In 17 the MCGG purchas
ed the Lexington Oil company
and merged their operations.
A move into larger quarters
was made not long after.
MORROW COUNTY
1 rwjsairjn GRAIN
GRAIN
m m
Had cttkt in Lx'mjton
Cenbtaj
The MCGG had been head
quartered at what is now' the
Kingdom Hall for the Jehovah
Witness Church in Lexington.
In 1971 the co-op moved its
operation down the street to
large new quarters located
near the junction of highways
74 and 207, where it is today.
The move gave the Grain
Growers more room to display
the farming equipment it had
for sale after purchasing
Iexington Implement Co. in
17.
GR ERS RSff
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