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Home / Washington Business - January/February 2004 / Member Helper: AWB Helps Monsanto Win Race Against the Harvest |
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Member Helper: AWB Helps Monsanto Win Race Against the Harvest |
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Written On: January/February 2004 |
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Written By: By Daniel Brunell |
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Last year Monsanto wanted to build a new hybrid corn seed processing plant just outside Othello. It would replace the company’s old facilities in Illinois and Iowa and it had to be located where little other corn was grown so as not to contaminate the hybrids with undesired pollen.
Even though this facility would only employ five full-time people, it would contract with farmers around the region to grow the specialized corn for seed. Those contracts were worth up to $500 million.
Monsanto thought it found the perfect place along Highway 26, yet the company needed an air operating permit from the Dept. of Ecology to construct seed dryers.
“If we would have waited the required time for our air permits, it would have been the middle of July before we could even break ground. We needed the equipment up and running by September for this year’s harvest,” Tony Herrmann, Site Manager for Monsanto, said. “Lots of farmers were depending upon us to have the plant operational last fall.”
Monsanto asked if it could start building the plant minus the dryers while the air operating permit was being processed. Its request fell on deaf ears at the Dept. of Ecology and agency showed no sense of urgency.
With time ticking away, Monsanto’s options looked rather bleak. Then, Herrmann found help at the Association of Washington Business. “We were talking to one of our growers, Dan Roseberg of Moses Lake, and he mentioned told us to call Gary Chandler for help.”
Chandler, now AWB’s vice president of governmental affairs, jumped into action. Being a former farmer, rancher and state legislator, Chandler understood Monsanto’s plight.
“Many people may not realize in agriculture we only have just a few weeks to harvest and process our crops. If there is any delay a whole year’s income is lost to spoilage.” Chandler said. “We were able to show the Department how vital it was for this plant to get up and running in time for the harvest.”
“Through Gary’s assistance, the Depart-ment of Ecology allowed us to start construction,” Herrmann said.
Monsanto finished the plant and got its air permit so it could process the 2003 crop.
“We just finished our first season without a hitch,” Herrmann said.
It isn’t the first time Chandler or AWB have intervened to help our members.
“It is one of the benefits of AWB membership,” Don Brunell, AWB President said. “Often we save members more money than they’ll ever pay in dues and we eliminate a lot of heartache and frustration in the process. Helping members is what we’re all about.”
It is also worth noting that since Monsanto is an AWB member, Chandler’s work was without charge.
AWB would like to thank the following Dept. of Ecology staff members who helped on this issue: Mary Burg (Air Program Manager, Olympia), Grant Pfeiffer (Spokane) and Greg Flibbert (Spokane).
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