About Us
Almira Farmers Warehouse Co. in Almira Washington is located in the heart of big bend wheat country serving Grant and Lincoln county producers. We’ve been here 92 years serving all your certified seed and grain storage marketing needs in Hartline, Govan, Almira, Wilbur and Marlin. Whether your grain is farm or elevator stored, merchandising your grain with a friendly small town attitude is what we are all about. We’re here to serve you locally with guaranteed friendly service.
History
Almira Farmers Warehouse Co. is the oldest surviving business in Almira, WA. The company was incorporated May 15, 1909 by a group of approximately 20 local farmers who felt a need for a company to handle their crops and provide other valuable services for a growing farm community.
The first Board of Directors and Incorporators were as follows:
| |
President |
|
Fred H. Hyde |
|
Vice President |
|
H. G. Wynhoff |
|
Director #1 |
|
Chas E. Elliott |
| |
Director #2 |
|
Boon Thompson |
|
Director #3 |
|
J. G. Wolfe |
The following men served as manager for the company from 1909 to the present:
| |
Vorse Rector |
1909-1911 |
2 years |
| |
E. M. Cardwell |
1911-1918 |
7 years |
| |
L. A. Rumberg |
1918-1926 |
8 years |
| |
Chas E. Johnson |
1926-1927 |
1 year |
| |
E. M. Cardwell |
1927-1952 |
25 years |
| |
Herbert Blunk |
1952-1982 |
30 years |
| |
Rodger Hodgson |
1982-1998 |
16 years |
| |
James D. Bafus |
1998-present |
|
The company slowly grew until the first concrete elevator was built in 1920 at Almira. With this new concrete structure the storage capacity reached 240,000 bushels at three stations; Almira, Govan and Hanson. By 1950 the storage capacity had grown to 700,000 bushels at these three stations.
In 1953 the company purchased the Almira Machine Supply Co. and operated it as a hardware and implement dealership for 19 years. This was a sideline to the grain storage business until 1972 when it was closed to concentrate better service to the grain customers.
As our customer base grew, better yields and larger intakes required additional storage facilities. Annex flat house storage was added to Almira in 1953, Highland station was built in 1954, Hartline station and Centennial site in Almira were acquired in 1957 and North and South truck loading stations were built in 1959. In 1984 the Board of Directors saw additional capacity needs in Almira and South stations. A 1.2 million bushel pile 260-foot diameter covered outside storage facility was added to the west side of Almira’s existing flat houses and concrete structure. A 400,000 bushel steel tank and an outside temporary pile facility with equipment were added to South station. The Marlin station 205,000-bushel facility with unit train loading equipment was constructed in 1986.
More recent additions were made in 1998 to update the seed plant facilities in Almira and add another steel tank to North station. The ever-increasing size of farm trucks required scale additions and updates at Govan and Hartline in 2000 and scale/approach improvements to North station in 2001. With all current improvements through 2001 our total storage capacity is 5.3 million bushel.
