Customers of the Scranton location of Landus Cooperative learned last week the facility will be closing within a year. The announcement was made late last week with letters mailed to customers in the area.
The determining factor is the safety of the facility. It has been discovered the concrete silos are deteriorating, causing a safety hazard for the workers as well as grain that is stored inside.
The letter stated:
“As part of ongoing operations Landus Cooperative is continually evaluating the safety and operational effectiveness of all facilities. As part of this evaluation, it has been determined the Scranton facility is not safe to operate through harvest of 2019 in its current condition.
“As a result, Landus Cooperative is announcing the following for the Scranton location.
• Effective May 3, 2019, we will stop receiving grain in Scranton and cease grain operations when the elevator is emptied.
• Agronomy sales and service will continue through the spring and early summer. It will close for the winter and re-open for agronomy-only next spring.
• Through August 2, 2019, the office will remain staffed to serve agronomy customers. The office is slated to re-open for the spring agronomy season 2020.
• Effective August 2, 2019, bagged feed sales will end in Scranton. These products will be available from both Bayard and the Jefferson Beef Center.
“Brad Wallace, Field Sales Agronomist, and Customer Service Specialist Melissa Means will remain in the Scranton office until the office closes in August. At that time, Brad will office out of Ralston and Melissa will serve another area location. Our operations team will be based out of Ralston.
“For those with delivery contracts in place, we will work with you to transition those to another location. Our grain team will be in Scranton from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, to answer questions about transitioning your grain business to other Landus Cooperative locations. You may also reach a grain marketer at 877-778-2226 daily.
“These decisions are never easy for us. We recognize that this change impacts your operation. We look forward to working with you to transition your business with this change and serve you long into the future.”
Local farmers were disheartened to learn about the closing. While other Landus facilities are nearby (Ralston, Bayard, Jefferson and Churdan), transportation to those locations means more time and money invested in equipment for the Scranton area producers. ~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
