The Vculek family purchased the elevator from Crete Farmers' Grain Company, a struggling cooperative, in June 1978, and renamed it Crete Grain Company. At that time the elevator had a capacity of 135,000 bushels and the rail siding held 15 cars.
After much cleaning, patching, and remodeling; the addition of four 35,000-bushel bins west of the plant; and the installation of a grain dryer, Crete Grain Company was licensed and opened as a public warehouse. One week later, Burlington Northern petitioned to abandon the track from Crete to Oakes. It took many months of hard work by shippers on the line to get BN to agree to upgrade the track on the condition that a fast-loading unit train facility would be installed on the line. Crete Grain Company rose to the challenge, adding track, bins, and efficient loading equipment. The first 27-car train was loaded in January 1983.
Over the next several years, many more improvements were made. The driveway and scale were remodeled to accommodate semi-trucks. A new office was built away from the main plant for cleaner and more efficient operations. A track scale was installed to prevent costly overload penalties. The main elevator house was remodeled, a new cleaner added, and the dryer was enlarged. Track was installed to accommodate loading of 54-car trains.
Since 1987, Crete has been served by the Red River Valley and Western Railroad Company, a short-line railroad that was spun off from the Burlington Northern. Crete Grain Company has enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the new railroad, to the benefit of our farmer-customers.
The plant in Crete has a working capacity of 469,000 bushels, with additional licensed storage of 780,000 bushels. Crete Grain Company employs eight or more full-time employees, including managers, office staff, operations personnel, and truck drivers. Part-time and seasonal employees are added as needed during the year.
Crete Grain Company purchases wheat, corn, and soybeans from area farmers for sale to mills, exporters, and other grain users. Crete Grain Company offers innovative pricing opportunities for farmers, as well as grain transportation services via truck or rail to access the best markets available.
Annual grain sales have increased from an average of nearly four million bushels per year to about six million per year in the past three years. Crete Grain Company is committed to providing excellent service to farmers and to providing quality grain to the domestic and export markets.
Crete Grain Company is owned by the sons, daughter, and son-in-law of its founders, Bernard and Marlene Vculek, Brian and Barry Vculek, and Sonia and Leroy Meehl. Sonia and Leroy are the management team for Crete Grain.
Highlights of New Facility
· 1.2 million bushel grain capacity in 12 bins
· two public truck receiving pits and one rail receiving pit PLUS separate truck receiving pit to reclaim company-owned grain piles to the west of elevator
· 7,000 bushel-per-hour grain dryer
· ability to load 110 cars (approximately 440,000 bushels of corn) in about 10 hours
· access to Burlington Northern-Santa Fe network of shuttle-train destinations (about 40 in the US and 20 in Mexico)
· ability to receive grain by rail from other elevators on RRV&W short line railroad
· locally owned and operated
