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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives wish to congratulate Top AG Cooperative on the | ||||||
| 4 | occasion of the 100th anniversary of its founding; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, Top AG Cooperative is a farmer-owned cooperative | ||||||
| 6 | serving a multi-county area in
southwest Illinois, covering the | ||||||
| 7 | entire area east of St. Louis; it possesses grain facilities | ||||||
| 8 | located in
Addieville, Mascoutah, Okawville, Pierron, St. | ||||||
| 9 | Libory, and Trenton and supplies its members with various crop
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| 10 | inputs and feed and lumber products, as well as grain marketing | ||||||
| 11 | services; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, The Okawville, Pierron, and Trenton locations | ||||||
| 13 | offer seed, fertilizer, and chemicals,
along with related | ||||||
| 14 | services of delivery, custom application, and grain trucking; | ||||||
| 15 | the Trenton
facility operates the region's leading dairy feed | ||||||
| 16 | mill, and bagged feed products are available at all locations;
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| 17 | in addition, TOP AG operates a lumber yard at its Okawville | ||||||
| 18 | location; and | ||||||
| 19 | WHEREAS, The organization's roots can be traced to 1918; a | ||||||
| 20 | group of farmers, led by
William Grewe, Otto Hasheider, HH | ||||||
| 21 | Brockmeier, Fred Brammeier, Fred Moehle, and Julius Going,
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| 22 | recognized the need to maintain a grain elevator in the area, | ||||||
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| 1 | and, as such, initiated the organization of a
local | ||||||
| 2 | agricultural cooperative; after 240 shares were sold in the | ||||||
| 3 | region, the Okawville Farmer Elevator
was officially chartered | ||||||
| 4 | in August of 1919; the board of the Okawville Farmer Elevator | ||||||
| 5 | Company held its first
board meeting on August 5, 1919, and | ||||||
| 6 | directors were elected; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, In the last five years, multiple additions have | ||||||
| 8 | been completed within the cooperative,
including a large grain | ||||||
| 9 | dryer in Okawville in 2014, a grain bin in Trenton in 2015, the | ||||||
| 10 | 2017
production of a pair of grain bins in St. Libory, and the | ||||||
| 11 | 2018 renovation of a house purchased for a new
office in St. | ||||||
| 12 | Libory, allowing for the continued contribution of essential | ||||||
| 13 | services to farmers and their families; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, Top AG continues its historic course of serving | ||||||
| 15 | families within its community; maintaining its value while | ||||||
| 16 | adapting to technological developments, the cooperative has | ||||||
| 17 | withstood the test of time in its effort to
support the | ||||||
| 18 | interests of local farmers and their families; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, As of August, 2019, the Top AG Cooperative has | ||||||
| 20 | been in operation for one hundred
years, officially | ||||||
| 21 | representing the well-being of local farmers and their families | ||||||
| 22 | since August 1919; therefore, be it
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| 1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 2 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 3 | we congratulate the TOP AG Cooperative on its one hundred
years | ||||||
| 4 | of providing indispensable service to the farmers of southwest | ||||||
| 5 | Illinois; and be it further
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| 6 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 7 | presented to each member of the TOP AG
Cooperative leadership.
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