Downey–For more than a half century, Downey Grain Growers has been a fixture in this small agriculturally based community in southern Bannock County.

However, the future of this institution is up in the air as owners Franklin County Grain Growers decide if keeping the doors open full time is possible in the new farm economy.

Franklin County manager Lauritz Smith says no decision will be made until all the facts and figures are in, but the Downey facility could go to seasonal or part-time operation.

The Board of Directors of FCGG met in March to decide the fate of Downey’s co-op, but Smith, who had just come on board, said there were not enough accurate figures to make a decision.

"When you make a decision like this, you have to have accurate data. We’ll continue to operate as usual and revisit this at a future date." he said, indicating that June would be the decision month.

Smith said FCGG is not looking at abandoning the Downey facility. It may remain as it now is, but other options include closing the store and having seasonal opening–just when farmers need it most.

Downey’s Tom Barnes serves on the FCGG board, and is well aware of the problems of a small cooperative such as Downey. He is also aware of the importance of having needed products close at hand in the main farming seasons, as well as operating in a financially responsible manner. His daughter, Shannon Geddes, is store manager at Downey, and occasionally works in the Preston facility.

Smith said the FCGG also operated the Weston cooperative, but found it to be financially unfeasible. It is now closed.

He blames the decline in use of co-ops on the CRP program which has farmers being paid not to plant their ground, and on the low price of grain, which means fewer farmers are planting grain crops.

"There’s a small profit margin at the smaller facilities," he said. Even Preston’s facility is experiencing it’s problems. Once a center for rolling grain, Preston now sends their grain for rolling to Trenton, where he says there is better mixing and processing. Downey’s rollers were closed down over a year ago, he said.

Insurance for the small cooperative facility is now astronomical, Smith said. Insurance codes force improvements that cannot be financed with the small profit margin at such places. Many insurance carriers are insisting on major renovations that are, he said, simply not affordable.

"It’s just easier to close," he said.

Another reason for the change in farming is the disappearance of the small farmer. Farming is now Big Business, with big producers buying commodities directly instead of through a middle man. The burden of improving the small, older elevators, Smith said, is now falling on fewer small farmers.

He said alliances have become the norm, with several elevators joining together to provide service in a large area. Franklin County is now in alliance with Cache Valley Feed and Grain, and he thinks the move provides better quality of service.

"It doesn’t do us any good to go out of business," Smith said emphatically. "What we need to do is learn to be more efficient, both in Preston and in Downey. We’ll have to look at everything closely." He said other companies might be interested in joining an alliance with Preston and Downey.

It is an asset to have two facilities such as Downey and Preston, he said, so there is a lot of brainstorming going on to see how to use the partnership to best advantage.

Smith, who has managed grain operations for two years, is also a farmer in Trenton, who like many, found his operation too little to make a living and to large to ignore. A long-time resident of Dayton, Idaho, near Preston, he says his farm is too little to leave to the kids for their living.

He is well acquainted with the problems of the small farmer–and the small cooperative elevator.

"The board will make a decision about Downey in June," he promised, "and I guarantee it will be based on accurate data, and much thought will go into whatever decision is made."

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