FROM THE MANAGER
Dear members & patrons
All of our crop producer members look forward to harvest . It is when the fruits of your yearlong labor come home . This year started out like any other year with grain crops looking good , including rice . We started harvest in early July and had a perfect grain harvest season . Things went well at our elevators and lines were kept to a minimum . We ended up harvesting fewer bushles than last year because many grain acres were planted in cotton in 2017 . Futures prices drifted lower throughout harvest and basis levels did not react upward as we thought they might . These factors made our grain crop profits pretty slim to none .
Everyone was looking forward to a cotton crop that surely was a record crop for surrounding counties . As harvest began , everyone was smiling at the outstanding yields . We started ginning at our Hilje Gin on August 6 . As cotton rolled in , we frantically worked to get delivery on new equipment that had been promised to be installed at our Danevang location in late July . Late July became mid August , which is when the equipment finally arrived .
Your employees worked around the clock to get things in and started . Manufacturer representatives were on site and worked hard with electricians and computer experts to make sure eerything was ready . As we cranked up the Danevang Gin and put the first bale through , everything looked great .
It was on the second bale when a computer glitch caused the machine to enter the gin press at the wrong time , and we all watched as the press crushed the new bale handling cart .
This was a catastrophic breakdown . We all knew a new machine had to be assembled in Chicago and installed . This did not happen overnight , and because of the fatal mistake on the first machine , many company representatives were on hand and much time was taken to assure that the new bale handler would not only work , but work perfecly .
Finally , on September 6 , we were able to crank the Danevang Gin up . I assure you that each and every one of your board members and employees understood the urgency and worked day and night to be ready . Once started , everything looked good and the crop rolled in . As more producers started picking , modules stacked up . There were days when United Ag producers called in 2,000 modules per day . Everyone was excited about the record yields . We were all fantastically excited .
Then , sometime around August 16 , we heard weathermen talk about a storm possibly heading our way . We all prayed for it to turn somewhere else . As we all braced for the worst , we continued to try to get more modules out of the field , but our module lots quickly filled beyond capacity . Then , on the night of August 24 , Harvey hit the coast . Everyone knows the outcome — lots of rain and wind in surrounding areas .
Our employees ginned to the last evening before the storm .