Willwerth took over the role of general manager in December 2023 after the retirement of long-time United Co-op General Manager Tim Scott. Barely four months later, United Co-op would face perhaps its greatest challenge since coming together from five existing grain elevators in 1977.

It was barely past midnight on April 7, 2024, when flames engulfed the woodhouse bin at United Co-op’s Stonega site. The fire was so intense that flames could be seen from miles away. A camera located at a nearby farm captured a lightning strike that appeared to be the source that ignited the wind-whipped blaze.

As horrific as the blaze and resulting damage were, it is ultimately not what will stay with Willwerth the longest.

“Looking back, I would just say that the way everyone came together in a time of adversity, is what really mattered,” Willwerth said. “That’s the cooperative spirit; that we can do things together that we couldn’t do by ourselves. That’s what stands out to me the most.”

-Submitted photo
Rebuilding is complete at the Stonega location for United Co-op. Here at the new skyline for the long-time facility is Rich Lura, location manager, and Nick Willwerth, general manager.

Willwerth, who grew up near Vincent, is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in business management. He came to United Co-op six years ago, having worked for Consolidated Grain and Barge in Kentucky. Prior to being named general manager, Willwerth served as controller for United Co-op.

His appreciation is deep for the many area fire departments that responded quickly to help, to law enforcement, railroad crews, fellow employees, and even members of United Co-op who were quick to volunteer their time and equipment as well.

“We had every fire department from 20 miles around, probably more,” Willwerth recalled.

Volunteers from those departments had not only a very long day on the day of the fire, but continued to keep watch for several days, lest smoldering grain reignite. Likewise, employees and customers of United Co-op rallied around to do whatever they could.

“When this happened, it was all hands on deck,” Willwerth said. “All the different departments, all of our employees, everyone just rallied around — and that includes our customers. They were more than willing to work with us.”

-Submitted photo
The aluminum-clad woodhouse that was destroyed in the April 2024 fire is shown at right in this photo of the Stonega location of United Co-op.

He gave his appreciation to employees, board members, customers, and neighbors who, like in the history of all great rural communities, were quick to lend a hand.

There were farm customers who called to offer their own backhoes and endloaders to assist in the clean-up. Perhaps even more importantly, farm customers worked logistically with United Co-op to get their grain to other elevators within the United Co-op family, taking the strain off the heavily damaged Stonega site.

The number of farmers who regularly haul grain to United Co-op’s Webster City elevator has declined in recent years. Taking larger equipment through the downtown, coupled with faster unloading equipment at the rural sites, means the vast majority of grain comes in at the Stonega, Kamrar, Highview and Stratford sites.

While farmers did make more use of Webster City this year, Stonega also used temporary on-site storage to accommodate farmers who needed to haul there. The grain was then shipped by United Co-op to sites such as Highview.

“It’s a testament to the customers who stayed loyal to us,” Willwerth said. “They were willing to dump downtown, which is slower.”

In the end, the physical loss at Stonega included the 1970s-era woodhouse, an adjacent wood annex, and two smaller metal bins. Some 330,000 bushels of soybeans were lost in the blaze, but there was no financial loss for farmers.

At first, it was feared that two new bins that got extremely hot during the fire may also have to be taken down. The bins were later inspected and found to be in top condition. During the active blaze, firefighters had used infrared detectors to measure the heat on the new bins and began dousing them to cool them down.

“Three years ago, we put up a 550,000-bushel bin and a 140,000-bushel bin, plus a dryer, a receiving pit and a receiving leg,” said Stonega Location Manager Rich Lura. None of those facilities were lost.

To replace the woodhouse and smaller metal bins that were a total loss, United Co-op worked quickly to come up with a building plan to construct a new 550,000-bushel bin.

“We went from shock when we first got the call, to problem solving, and then to figuring out what we do next,” Willwerth explained. “It was A, get the fire out; B, get it cleaned up; C, rebuild.”

With the new bin joining those put up three years ago, Stonega is well positioned to continue providing services for area farmers for decades to come.

Stratford sees growth

At the outset of 2024, Stratford was the site where most of the building action was slated to take place. The fire vastly added to the construction work, but all of the work went forward at Stratford as originally planned.

In Stratford, a new office and scale were constructed, along with two, 500,000-bushel steel bins. The challenge for the Stratford site is that the elevator is located in town, with nearby neighbors. Building a new office and scale down the street on the other side of Shakespeare Avenue, allowed the new bins and grain leg to go up on the existing footprint of the old facility.

“One of our board members down there, Rick Carlson, had that idea,” Willwerth said. “Our scale was right there, it was getting old, and if we moved that office across the street to the east, it gave us the room when we needed to expand.”

The project greatly sped up the time it takes to unload, helping farmers get back to the field faster during harvest season.

After several busy years of major capital improvements at several different locations, United Co-op is looking forward to perhaps a less eventful year in 2025. Improvements to the rolling stock and regular equipment replacements are planned for the year ahead. This spring, farmers can expect to see a new self-propelled sprayer in the fields served by United Co-op.

“We still have other projects in mind for the future,” Willwerth said. “But we’re going to build up the balance sheet first.”