Ohio Department of Agriculture

Office of Communications

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2003

Media contact: Melanie Wilt, ODA Communications, 614-752-9817

Ohio Department of Agriculture Licenses Bobb Bros. Grain Facility to Operate

REYNOLDSBURG – The Ohio Department of Agriculture issued an Ohio grain handling license today to Stuckey & Stuckey Grain to lease the grain elevator formerly operated by Bobb Bros., Inc. in Leesburg. In July, the department suspended the grain handling license of Bobb Bros. in Highland County after discovering it owed farmers about $2.6 million that it could not pay.

“Farmers need a place to deliver their grain during this busy harvest season. Stuckey & Stuckey will provide a vital service and save farmers the cost of transporting to distant facilities,” Ohio Agriculture Director Fred Dailey said. He said the Commodity Advisory Commission at its Oct. 17 meeting will begin to review the 175 claims received for reimbursement from the Ohio Grain Indemnity Fund to allow eligible farmers to recoup some of their losses. The department is still accepting claims.

A court-appointed receiver has been in place since August to liquidate the company’s assets, while the agriculture department continues to investigate Bobb Bros., Inc. to determine the reason for the insolvency.

Grain elevators across Ohio typically receive grain before it is sold and delivered to a terminal grain elevator to be sold for processing. It is routine for farmers to deliver harvested grain to a grain elevator, collect a delivery receipt, and await payment for their crops when the grain is sold. A grain elevator becomes insolvent when it does not have funds or other assets to cover payments due to farmers who have deposited grain at the elevator.

The department’s Grain Warehouse Section administers the farmer-funded Ohio Grain Indemnity Fund, which reimburses eligible farmers when a licensed elevator becomes insolvent. Since it was established in 1983, the fund has reimbursed farmers more than $4.1 million in a number of smaller elevator insolvencies. It is funded through a half-cent per bushel assessment on grain marketed at licensed elevators in Ohio, collected from July 1983 through December 1985. The assessment is collected only if the fund drops below $4 million. The fund now stands at approximately $6.7 million.

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