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The Andersons in Fairmont has become a major supplier for the food-corn industry in the United States. The staff at The Andersons carefully selects the hybrids grown and consults with local farmers to provide high quality grade corn for corn tortillas and corn chips that can be found in local stores and many of the store brands.
Since the early 18th century, grain elevators have become the checkpoint between farm and table, field to feedlots.
FAIRMONT — Since the early 18th century, grain elevators have become the checkpoint between farm and table, field to feedlots. Especially in Nebraska, elevators are important in the agriculture industry, allowing farmers to unload, store and sell to get the best per bushel price.
The Andersons Food Corn Processing Facility in Fairmont is a “farmer-centric company,” providing local farmers with cost analysis, crop transition plans and profitability from white and yellow corn, GMO and non-GMO.
The company has been a main supplier for the food corn industry, producing high quality food-grade corn for the Snack Food Association, representing 400 companies worldwide and the Tortilla Industry Association. According to The Andersons, of the 50 million bushels of cleaned corn supplied for domestic masa production, 24 million bushels are contract grown for PepsiCo, who does their own cleaning. Of the remaining 26 million bushes, the Andersons have 31% of that market share.
Nicole Zelenka, processing supervisor, said the grain and storage facility was once O’Malley Grain Incorporated, founded in 1981 before being acquired by The Andersons in the spring of 2010. O’Malley Grain Inc. also supplied food-grade corn to the snack food and tortilla industries.
Zelenka said, “The business started in the 80s with my former boss, Dale Byrkit from Clay Center, who was outsourcing white corn. He sold his book of business to O’Malley Grain who constructed this facility in 1997. He saw Fairmont as a location with abundant irrigation and consistent crops, so he expanded his business. He was the plant manager from 1997 until he retired in 2018.”
The purchase of O’Malley’s in both Fairmont and their sister elevator in Mansfield, Illinois was a natural extension for The Andersons, looking to expand their service in providing specialty grain to food producers.
There are multiple components that keep the elevator in business. This niche operation involves the growing, cleaning, sorting, handling and shipment of products to consumer packaged food companies. The grain storage capacity of the elevator totals 709,000 bushels of corn.
When picking their growers, Zelenka said, “We send out our grower agreements, which have all of our standards for quality corn. We have a lot of growers who have been with us for many years, and as we get new ones, we like to see samples of the grain and the quality before selecting. We don’t go to growers, but local growers come to us, and we are always looking for new ones.”
What makes The Andersons unique compared to cooperatives is that they are able to offer an array of contract options for their farmers, including flat price, acre and bushel contracts, forward pricing contracts and premium offer programs.
Zelenka said, “I think we’ve had a lot of success. We’ve always offered higher premiums because we expect better quality. Now, things have changed in this area because you have your other grain companies and facilities sourcing the same thing. With these other companies, we’re all competing to buy in those bushels, so it is obviously going to drive that base price up.”
After the corn is grown, harvested and hauled to The Andersons, the corn is cleaned and separated from impurities like cobs, stalks, sticks and stones. In October of 2022, they installed two optical color sorters to help improve quality and efficiency.
“I know we’ve struggled in the past, getting the corn in and through quickly,” said Zelenka. “Right now, our loading and receiving are at the same place, so by splitting off our receiving end, we’ll have a completely separate pit for that. This should drastically decrease the wait time for unloading from what it is currently.”
Operations supervisor Eli Nuss said, “From the cleaners it goes through two optical color sorters. Then, we can designate the corn to go to our truck side, rail side, or packaging side to ship from our facility.”
They load semi-trucks with either 50-pound bags or 2,700-pound totes. They also load bulk rail cars, which is another aspect that makes The Andersons distinctive in the agricultural industry.
“We ship all the way to Canada to Texas and out to California,” said Zelenka.
The white corn, high in starch, fiber and vitamin content, is used for cornbread, chips, tortillas, taco shells, snack foods and grits. Similar to white, yellow corn is high in Vitamin A and can be used for baked goods, corn chips, tortillas, cereal and as a crisping agent. Oil made from yellow corn can be used in foods and beverages as well.
Zelenka said, “I think it’s important for people to know and be aware that we have a different market here. It’s not all cattle feed.”
The Andersons are looking forward to making significant investments at the Fairmont facility this year and beyond to increase their volume and capacity to grow their business.
Zach Espinosa loads pallets of food-grade corn on a truck. The Andersons manage multiple transportation avenues for their products to go from the elevator to chip manufactures across the U.S. and Canada.
Bagging food-grade corn is Paul Franssen at The Andersons in Fairmont.
According to The Andersons, of the 15.1 billion bushels of corn grown domestically, 450 million bushels is used for human consumption in forms of tortillas, chips, cereal and taco shells.
Behind the day-to-day operations at The Andersons, processing manager Nicole Zelenka oversees paperwork, contracting and market pricing.
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The Andersons in Fairmont has become a major supplier for the food-corn industry in the United States. The staff at The Andersons carefully selects the hybrids grown and consults with local farmers to provide high quality grade corn for corn tortillas and corn chips that can be found in local stores and many of the store brands.
Zach Espinosa loads pallets of food-grade corn on a truck. The Andersons manage multiple transportation avenues for their products to go from the elevator to chip manufactures across the U.S. and Canada.
Bagging food-grade corn is Paul Franssen at The Andersons in Fairmont.
According to The Andersons, of the 15.1 billion bushels of corn grown domestically, 450 million bushels is used for human consumption in forms of tortillas, chips, cereal and taco shells.
Behind the day-to-day operations at The Andersons, processing manager Nicole Zelenka oversees paperwork, contracting and market pricing.
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