CHS SunPrairie has come a long way in 100 years. The 48,000 bushels of commodities handled in 1916 are dwarfed by the 27 million bushels handled today.

Manager Brad Haugeberg said much has changed from the days when the elevator processed coal orders, sold twine for grain shocks and shipped grain in boxcars rather than 100-car unit trains. But the principles of cooperative ownership and marketing for the benefit of farmer owners have not changed, he said.

“It’s kind of fun to be here at this time, but at the same time, you have to be almost humble in the fact that there’s a lot of decisions made by the previous managers and previous directors that provided for this cooperative to exist 100 years. We just hope we can keep making good decisions so they can celebrate another 100 years,” Haugeberg said.

Throughout the years there have been 29 elevator locations under the cooperative’s name. Today there are 10 elevator locations in eight towns, a feed facility, an agronomy center and a sunflower bagging facility that together employ about 150 people. The operation conducts about $250 million in sales annually, handling 12 commodities. Last year, CHS SunPrairie distributed $8.5 million to its 1,400 farmer owners.

CHS SunPrairie will celebrate record earnings at its 100th anniversary observance during its annual membership meeting Nov. 12 at the North Dakota State Fair Center. Entertainment will be provided by Williams & Ree. There will be mementoes on display and copies of a newly published history book available.

Earlier this fall, CHS SunPrairie set up a showcase at its office headquarters with a number of artifacts provided by member owners or handed down in the company, such as a clock that had hung in the original elevator.

A written history detailing the company’s 100 years states the creation of a farmers’ cooperative grew out of increasing discontent over the control that elevators and railway interests had over shipping of crops. Farmers formed a committee in 1906 to research the idea of a locally-owned elevator.

The history of SunPrairie began in August 1915 with the incorporation of Minot Farmers’ Cooperative Elevator Co. The new entity leased an elevator for its first year before deciding to build along the Soo Line Railroad.

The original elevator lasted until 1959, when it was condemned by the city. The old structure was sold to the Rev. James Brooks for $150 and demolished.

Through the years, the cooperative saw a great deal of expansion and contraction, along with various mergers and affiliations.

In June 1929, the board of directors decided to buy stock in the Farmers Union Oil Co. of Minot. Tied to this purchase was an agreement that the oil company would operate a filling station on the elevator lot, which it did for many years.

In 1930 the cooperative became affiliated with the newly-organized Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association in St. Paul, Minn.

Although attempts were made as far back as 1935 to change the name of the elevator to Farmers Union Elevator, this was not accomplished until 1952, when the name was officially changed to Farmers Union Elevator Co.

“In the mid to late fifties, smaller affiliated elevators began seeing financial strain,” states the cooperative’s recorded history. “Good roads, bigger trucks and other reasons were the cause of this strain. Some were forced to close their doors over much of this area. Midway Farmers Elevator Company of Wolseth was one of those elevators seeing the strain and could no longer operate on its own. A merger was agreed upon and completed May 28, 1956, and the Wolseth elevator continued to operate under Farmers Union Elevator Company of Minot.”

In 1963, Farmers Union Elevator of Carpio asked to merge with Minot.

“Farmers Union Elevator Company in Minot was perhaps the first elevator to have smaller elevators in the area merge in with them in the state,” according to the historical report. “At the time of the first merger, the powers that be at G.T.A. had some doubt as to whether this was the right action to take. Today, however, we see many successful mergers take place between elevators to keep them in existence to serve the patrons.”

Farmers Union Elevator Co. in Glenburn merged with Minot in 1973. The Glenburn Independent Elevator followed suit in 1976.

The first half of the 1980s brought several mergers with Minot. They included Sherwood in 1981; Upham, Velva, Simcoe and Karlsruhe in 1982; Coulee, Ryder, Westhope and Roth in 1983; and Mohall in 1985. The Wolseth elevator was sold in 1980.

On July 1, 1997, the Minot-based operation became a division of Harvest States.

The Farmers United Grain Company of Bowbells also had become a division of Harvest States, and the plan was to operate the Bowbells group and Minot elevators as one unit. The Bowbells group consisted of the Bowbells, Coteau, Flaxton, Lignite, Niobe, Norma and Stampede elevators. In October 1997, the name of this new unit became SunPrairie Grain, a name suggested by Joyce Bakken of Lignite.

Mark Grove, manager of the Bowbells group, continued as manager of the north unit, with Haugeberg managing the south unit. This continued until June 1998, when Grove resigned and Haugeberg became sole manager.

In 1998. a limited liability company formed with SunPrairie Grain, Farmers Union Oil Co. of Minot and Farmers Union Oil of Velva that resulted in the formation of Dakota Agronomy Partners. Souris River Cooperative joined in 2013. By then, Farmers Union Oil Co. of Minot was doing business as Enerbase Cooperative Resources and CHS SunPrairie Grain became simply CHS SunPrairie in July 2014.

The 1990s signaled the end for many elevators in the state, including some in the CHS SunPrairie cooperative. Roth was one of those elevators, torn down in 1990. Karlsruhe was sold five years later. In 1996, the Minot cooperative purchased the Kief and Butte facilities. Later that same year the Kief location was sold.

Other elevators sold off included Coteau in 1998; Sherwood in 1999; the Mohall bin site and Coulee in 2000; Butte and Stampede in 2001. The Loraine elevator, purchased in 1996, was sold in 2001. The cooperative sold the Westhope location to Bottineau Farmers Elevator in November of 2002. The Upham elevator was sold in 2002, the Glenburn Independent Elevator in 2005, and Flaxton in 2006 and Simcoe in 2007.

In July of 2002, the cooperative negotiated with Cargill for the purchase of their Minot facility.

The biggest events in the grain business, though, weren’t necessarily mergers and name changes. The Minot cooperative also endured economic challenges and the whims of Mother Nature.

The depression of the 1930s changed the way the elevator did business. Prior to the depression, it had been common practice to ship stored grain and buy the hedges. In the spring of 1932, because of poor crops, farmers started calling for their wheat on storage. It became necessary to ship in seed wheat from the Red River Valley to take care of this request. Many thousands of bushels were purchased from the Interstate Seed & Grain Company of Fargo, much of it on credit terms. After some thought and study by the board of directors, it was agreed to instruct the manager that speculating in the futures market would be strictly forbidden.

Another threat to survival came in 1969 when the Souris River flooded Minot’s valley. The elevators were out of business for 40 days. However, thanks to farmers who helped build dikes at the two elevator sites, damage was minimal.

Damage was more significant in 2011.

On June 22, 2011, around noon, the warning sirens blared, alerting residents that it was time to evacuate. Trucks transferred grain to higher ground for another 12 hours, limiting the amount of grain inventory that was lost.

Dakota Agronomy Partners’ office on Valley Street became a shared home for staff from the other locations during the flood. In early July, a restoration company specializing in flood disasters started the cleanup on the facilities. After nearly 700 man hours, 40 electric motors and a $5 million insurance claim, the cooperative was back in business, with the exception of the downtown plant. The downtown plant was a complete loss and was sold the next year.