Friendly, big-hearted, little town's co-op gin and mill serves area farmers

The Moulton Farmer's Co-op Gin and Mill began in 1923. The co-op stores corn and milo for area farmers as well as mixes feed for their livestock. -Staff photo by Taylor

January 31, 2002 -- "The Friendly Little Town with a Heart as Big as Texas, population 944," reads the sign going into Moulton in Lavaca County.

Up on a little hill is the downtown main street, lined with several businesses and a few empty buildings. Down the road a bit is the Moulton Farmer's Co-op Gin and Mill, which opened in 1923.

Due to a fire in the earlier years, it had to be rebuilt and the configuration is a bit different, but the major objective of the co-op is still to serve the area farmers.

"We're owned by the stockholders and they have a meeting once a year on the last Monday in February. That's when the Certified Public Accountant comes and tells everybody how we did for the year," said Murlene Simper, front desk manager.

Directors are elected from the group of approximately 336 stockholders, and they meet once a month to discuss co-op business.

"Most stockholders are from the area, unless they inherited property and live away ...," said Simper.

"The place is set up to try to help the farmer. You want to try to give them the best price you can without getting too cheap where the place doesn't run, but yet you don't want to charge too much."

While the income keeps the co-op running, only one year in the past 15 has seen enough profit to pay equity out to the the stockholders.

The co-op stores corn and milo for area farmers who do not have adequate storage on their farms, and mixes feed for the animals when needed, along with selling everything from "soup to nuts" that may be needed on the farm.

"We charge so much for storage and grinding the grain and hay, whatever they want to do. If they want to make cattle feed, they want to grind and mix it, we do that," said Simper.

The business is also known for selling everything from "soup to nuts" that may be needed on the farm, according to Murlene Simper (above), front desk manager. -Staff photo by Taylor

Some producers have their own bags, said Simper, and the co-op furnishes them, too, due to the various sizes the customer desires, according to weight.

"They store what they think they're going to use for cattle feed, and most of the rest of it is sold. We sell it to other customers, or we truck it out," she added.

Changes in farming over the past 20 years have seen changes in income and production costs, according to Simper and Jerry Fojtik, manager of the co-op, who has been in the business 40 years.

"When I first started here, the price of corn was a lot higher. We paid more to the farmer for corn than we have in the last two years. It's really been bad for the farmer," said Simper.

At that time, 15 years ago, corn prices to the farmer were running between $5-6 per 100 pounds, according to Simper. Now, the farmer receives $4.50.

"'They claim it's the over supply of corn. Like China ... they're exporting to a lot of other countries, since they have so much, and we're (United States) not exporting that much. They change so many things.

"Every time somebody brings in corn, they have to pay one-half cent a bushel which goes to the Texas Corn Producers Board. It's like cattle when you take them to the auction. You pay a dollar a head or something," she said.

A charge of one cent per hundred pounds of milo is assessed against the producer, too, by the Texas Grain Sorghum Board, said Simper. The boards try to help farmers in marketing their products, and the producers are able to request refunds at the end of the year, in certain instances.

While most grain is stored on the individual farms, about 100 members store grain at the co-op, according to Fojtik.

"It's so hard to keep grain. You don't have the weather like you used to. You can't fumigate it like you used to with the stuff you could get for the weevils and stuff. Everything is illegal, here, and we get all that stuff shipped in from Mexico. They use DDT ... they use everything and we buy the vegetables and we eat them, and here it's against the law to use it. It just doesn't make sense," said Fojtik.

Like most agricultural business, the co-op has seen a steady decline in farming and new farmers entering the profession. The small farmer just can't make a living, anymore, said Simper, whose late husband was a farmer until he was killed in a round baler last year. Like families all over, one or both parents must work outside the farm to make ends meet.

The fact that many feed companies are now marketing their own feed at discounted prices - prices that are cheaper than the co-op's can pay for the feed - adds an extra problem for co-ops, according to Fojtik.

"When I first started working in the feed mill, we worked 60 hours and made $48. And that $48 bought just as much, then, as it does now. That just goes to show you what the change is. In other words, inflation is eating us up," said Fojtik.