100th anniversary

The Cameron Coop celebrated 100 years of serving area farmers during its monthly board meeting Tuesday.

The celebration comes as the first of an eight-month project highlighting the organization’s centennial anniversary, which began with 150 farmers coming together in December of 1920.

“It’s been here 100 years and it’s really the root of the community. Cameron is still a farming community whether anyone wants to believe it or not,” said Rodney Hahn, whose family has been a part of the Cameron Coop for multiple generations. 

Cody Sloan, who managed the Coop since 2017, said since its inception, the Coop has been a vital part of the Cameron community. With it being a collection of 1,229 current members, their main mission has been providing affordable, quality agricultural products to area farmers. While publicly traded companies have an impetus for perpetual growth, profit margins are not a major concern for the Coop.

“We need to turn a profit to keep the lights on, but, ultimately, we exist for our members,” Sloan said. “That’s not a politically correct thing to say, but it’s the definition of a Coop. Anybody can do business with us. If you come in and sign up for an account, then you become a member as well. You eventually are able to own a share and become a voting member. We exist for our customers. I think it’s an advantage we have over other companies because we can make decisions locally.”

The celebration comes at an awkward time for the Coop, which looks to expand its grain bin operations while simultaneously navigating through an economy stifled by the outbreak of COVID-19. Sloan said the ongoing pandemic has not affected business yet, but foresees an impact in the future as the economic downturn slowly reaches America’s agriculture professionals.

“It’s not slowing down, but it’s effecting us. Corn, grain and bean prices are pretty tough right now,” Sloan said. “Not many guys, if they have stored bean or corn, are interested in selling right now. Hopefully, when this stuff bypasses and we move on. We can see a rise in the markets. It’s the same thing with the cattle market. We sell a lot of feed to cattle producers and the cattle markets are a little soft right now. It hasn’t slowed us down, because people still need to eat, but I won’t go as far as to say it hasn’t affected us.”

Sloan added once COVID-19 passes he foresees a bright future ahead for the Coop with its new grain bins giving it the ability to store more than 400,000 bushels of product.

“There are farmers in this area that raise corn that is going to end up going in those bins,” Sloan said. “It’s a specialty crop, a non-GMO corn - Ingredion, a company we partnered with and they’re planning on putting their corn in there. It helps local farmers because it gives them a closer place to deliver their corn. Logistically, it’s very convenient for them … Not only does it give [farmers] a move convenient place to deliver their corn, it also puts more farmers into this Ingredient program and it’s a great, guaranteed income for us as well. Hopefully, it’s a win-win for us, Ingredion and the farmers.”