 BLACKFOOT — When Allen Young was growing up on the family farm at Taber, he saw the white fertilizer and fuel trucks with the words “Bingham Co-op” on the doors come and go throughout the years, but it wasn’t until he began farming on his own that he realized what it meant to be a member of an agricultural cooperative.
By EMILY HONE
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BLACKFOOT — When Allen Young was growing up on the family farm at Taber, he saw the white fertilizer and fuel trucks with the words “Bingham Co-op” on the doors come and go throughout the years, but it wasn’t until he began farming on his own that he realized what it meant to be a member of an agricultural cooperative.
He learned that belonging to a farm co-op brings farmers benefits they get nowhere else, and because of the high level of services it provides along with a return on their investments, Young said, Bingham Co-op is an example of what a farm co-op should be.
“I believe it’s the best of its kind in Southeast Idaho.”
With the aid of his family, Young farms 2,800 acres of ground in the desert west of Moreland, one of the most picturesque locales for farming in Bingham County.
He learned to farm from his father, Darwin, and took over running the operation when the elder Young left to serve on the Idaho Tax Commission. But he says being a farmer wasn’t what he wanted to be when he grew up.
Young went to college and earned a degree in business, but kept coming back to the family farm until eventually he bought it and added to the acreage.
His older sons, Adam and Eric, attend BYU-Idaho, but still work on the farm when they’re home.
His daughter Krysten, 17, and son Brady, 14, both do their share of tractor work, and his wife, Jackie, helps with the hay baling when needed but mostly is the record keeper.
When Young took over the farm he continued growing the county’s signature crop — potatoes — but switched to alfalfa hay, in a wheat and barley rotation five years ago.
He grows dairy quality hay as his cash crop, selling most of it to the large operations around Jerome.
Dairy quality, he said, is high in protein and low in fiber, which means it must be harvested when there is more leaf than stem.
“You sacrifice some tonnage that way,” Young said. “But the price makes up for it.”
And it can’t have been rained on, which is sometimes a challenge as the June rains most often coincide with the first cutting of hay in the county.
Young said the benefits of membership in Bingham Co-op are many, not the least being fieldmen who provide information on important things like fertilizer, irrigation and pest control.
“The co-op is very well run,” he said. “It has great fieldmen and they’re knowledgeable crop consultants. If you’re in doubt about what a field needs, they’ll help make the decision, and it has the most up-to-date equipment along with people who know how to run it.”
Its members benefit financially through the payments they receive based on the amount of business they do there. “They receive thirty five percent back in cash payments and the rest goes into stock in the co-op that they can get back when they turn 70, or can be cashed in on their death.”
The co-op is governed by an elected board of directors, of which Young has been a member for nine years. It meets monthly to review financial statements and discuss policy.
Founded in 1939 Bingham Cooperative operates retail feed, hardware and convenience stores, retail agronomy operations and bulk fuels and propane operations in Blackfoot, American Falls and Rexburg.
Young said his father was very active in its operation, and one of the men who helped guide its growth as the industry changed.
Those changes have been many, he said, and one of the most beneficial was its merger with CHS in 2006.
“There was so much competition in the farm service business, it was becoming a challenge to keep pace with it. The merger helped us get through the few years when we would have had a hard time meeting our obligations.”
The ensuing two years were good ones for the co-op members even as the economy crumbled in other sectors, and they will share in a record distribution of $1,044,689 in cash patronage and equity redemptions this year.
General Manager Mike Jensen, said the amount each receives is five times what they earned from fy 2007.
He said $576,266 was paid out in cash during February, and over the next 12 months eligible patrons will receive another $468,423 in cash as redemptions of equity earned in previous years.
Jensen said it’s not unusual for equity payments to amount to $150,000. “Since they’ve paid annual taxes on it over the years, the money is tax-free,” he said. “Some tell us we’re their 401 K.
‘”We’re extremely proud that we can provide this tremendous return to our customer owners,” Jensen said. “This ability to provide a return on their investments, as well as reinvest in the future of a business they own, is one of the great advantages of being associated with a cooperative like Bingham Co-op on the local level as well as with the larger CHS, Inc. system.”
He said CHS, a leading energy, grains and foods cooperative based in Manhattan, Kan., expects to return up to $343 million in cash patronage, equity redemption and preferred stock to 1,200 eligible companies and more than 35,000 producers in 48 states.
It marks the largest distribution ever made by a U.S. cooperative and a 5th consecutive record set by CHS, which had a net income for its fy 2008 of $803 million, he said.
Only people actively engaged in producing crops can become members of the co-op, Jensen said, and it has many who have belonged for most of their lives.
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