New Fertilizer Facility More Than Just a Showpiece for Ray-Carroll Grain Growers

By Eric Sfiligoj|November 15, 2017

In 2016, Ray-Carroll Grain Growers, Inc. officially opened a new 50,000-ton fertilizer warehouse in Hardin, MO. According to Matt Schuster, Warehouse Fertilizer Marketing Manager for the company, this new warehouse will allow Ray-Carroll to not only service its existing customers in the retail business, but help the company to enter the wholesale business as well.

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The Ray-Carroll fertilizer warehouse from the outside.
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An inside view of the warehouse.
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The Hardin warehouse team: from left, Alex Taylor, Matt McMillan, Brian Meyers, and Matt Schuster.
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Trucks visiting the plant can load up using these pair of overhead load-out tanks.
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A truck prepares to receive a blended load of fertilizer.
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The plant uses Kahler Automation equipment.
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A pile of fertilizer in one of the facility’s storage areas.
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Fertilizer can be weighed using this Layco declining weigh system.

“We’re proud to help local farmers and rural communities succeed, thanks to the power of partnerships,” says Schuster.

And in truth, he adds, this cooperative spirit goes back to Ray-Carroll’s founding more than 80 years ago. After Congress passed the Agricultural Marketing Act to establish grower marketing associations, growers nationwide began organizating cooperatives to market their grain. Growers in Ray County, MO, were no exception. They incorporated their cooperative in 1931 and set membership dues at $10 — the same exact fee cost as in 2017.

For its new Hardin facility, Ray-Carroll worked with Central Concrete of Ohio and Calhoun. Inside the plant, there is fertilizer handling equipment supplied by Yargus Manufacturing.

“The warehouse has allowed us to have better control over our supply,” says Schuster. “We used to supply our retail plants with product from warehouses as much as 300 miles away. Now we supply the outlying retail plants out of the Hardin warehouse.”

On a recent swing through the Hardin area, CropLife® magazine stopped by to have a first-hand look at the new facility. Some of the highlights we saw are in the slideshow above.

Sfiligoj is the Editor for both CropLife and CropLife IRON magazines. He travels regularly to cover industry events and has been dedicated to the ag retail industry since he joined the staff in 2000. See all author stories here.