Patrons met in a special meeting at Amacher Auditorium to vote on the proposed merger on Tuesday and approved the proposal with a 97.5 percent majority 117-3. The merger is expected to take effect May 1.      

The Britton elevator is the 10th to become affiliated with Wheaton Dumont. Other facilities are located at Sisseton and New Effington in South Dakota, Wheaton, Dumont, Tenney, and Campbell, MN; and Lamars, Matador, and Hankinson, ND.      

Very little is expected to change at the Britton facility. It will still be called the Britton Elevator under the Wheaton Dumont Co-op. Things will be done as they were before under the local co-op, and Wheaton Dumont will do the marketing of the grain.    

A big benefit of the merger for area producers is the probable construction of a 110-car rail loading facility in Britton. The Britton elevator has been trying to find a way to build the facility for most of the past six years but kept running into financial roadblocks.     

The Britton elevator purchased nearly a quarter of land along the railroad tracks southwest of Britton last December where the new facility would be located. It would include a 10,000-foot loop track to accommodate the 110-car unit trains. Estimates are that the cost of the project would be a minimum of $10-$12 million.

Farmer's Co-op Grain Board of Directors Chairman Duane (Tuffy) Dinger said that the merger is a real shot in the arm to the local elevator.
    

"I think the merger is very, very important," said Dinger. "The elevator was going to gradually go downhill, and then there wouldn't have been anything. We were almost at that stage now because we were so far out of the market. With this merger they have all intentions of putting up a loading facility in Britton, and it's really needed. It's just too far to haul grain, especially for the people right around the Britton area."
      

Rail traffic had dropped considerably at the Britton elevator in recent years. In 2005 a total of 1,478 rail cars of grain were shipped from the local facility. By 2009 that number had dropped to just 314 cars.
Producers also have the potential of seeing quite a financial benefit.

Wheaton Dumont General Manager Philip Deal gave patrons an example of how that can change.
     

"When we took at Hankinson they took in more grain in the first 42 days than they did the whole year before, and freight rates were 24 cents better for beans and 14 cents better for corn," said Deal. "And we haven't done the kind of trains there that we would do in Britton with the 100-car units. I can't predict what the difference will be in Britton, but if we're not as competitive as an Andover or Oakes then there is no point in building."    

Deal did say that if the Britton facility could process 4,800 cars a year that it would be a success. But he didn't discount reaching a lofty goal of 6,000 cars annually.    

Reaching an agreement with the railroad is the one piece of the puzzle not yet in place.
     

"We have to be assured that the rail will be here," stressed Deal. "There must be a very solid and realistic commitment from a railroad for us to proceed. What we have to do is create enough scale for the railroad to take you seriously in the first place. It's a chicken in the egg things. If you can provide the railroad volume, they will provide you with competitive rates."
      

Several things factor into that projected volume at the Britton facility.
     

"In our area the changeover from CRP acres is phenomenal," said Deal. "And instead of combining 50 bushel wheat it's 150 bushel corn. We're tripling the bushel intensity per acre. Seed officials are also predicting a five percent increase in average corn yield per year. Over 10 years that is a significant increase."
     

Deal couldn't give a timetable on getting a commitment from the railroad, but Marshall County Rail Authority Board Member Don Jarrett said he hoped something would come out of a scheduled meeting on April 7 between the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Dakota Missouri Valley & Western now operating on the Britton line.     

Deal said that the Britton track has also become more valuable in recent months.
     

"This track holds a lot of promise all of a sudden in that it provides a connecting line through the north half of South Dakota for the DM&E and Canadian Pacific Railroads. Almost overnight the potential for a viable line is very high, and it's very likely the line could be a busy one."
     

Reliable rail transportation also provides an economic impact to the region in other ways.
     

"When you have a loop track you can share space with like industries pretty easily," added Deal. "What it also does is show other industries that there is enough interest in the health and maintenance of the rail line that they can start believing that the tracks will be there. Those industries don't necessarily have to be along the loop. They can be anywhere in the town or county, but the facility becomes the cornerstone of rail traffic."
     

When Dinger announced the nearly unanimous vote Tuesday night, he sported a great big smile.
     

"It just made me feel real good and was a happy day for me," Dinger concluded. "It's been a long, hard-fought battle, but it's going to have quite an impact on the community and the Marshall County area."
     

 Deal was also very pleased with the show of support for the merger.
     

"Number one, it was an extreme vote of confidence," said Deal. "Two, it was a clear indication of the public's interest. And number three it was almost like a mandate that we have their support and we look forward to working with them in the future.
     

"We're very interested in the future of this facility and of this community," concluded Deal, "and we will prove it to you."

Source: The Marshall County Journal