Southeast Farmers Cooperative, established in 1906, is a member-owned cooperative serving southeastern South Dakota. Over the years, it has expanded its services to include grain handling, agronomy, and energy products, supporting local farmers and communities. The cooperative's growth involved strategic mergers, such as the 1999 union of Farmers Elevator Company of Elk Point and Farmers Elevator Company of Jefferson, forming Southeast Farmers Elevator Coop. In 2005, the cooperative completed construction of a shuttle facility between Elk Point and Jefferson, enhancing its grain handling capabilities. Further expansion occurred in 2010 with the merger of Southeast Farmers and Farmers Coop Elevator of Beresford. Throughout its history, Southeast Farmers Cooperative has focused on investing in its people and facilities to meet the evolving needs of its members and communities.

Hot-dip galvanizing (HDG) is the gold standard in the Midwest agricultural industry. Farmers know and understand the importance of making things last. This is an important factor when choosing HDG. Southeast Farmers Cooperative recognizes the lifetime cycle benefits of this coating, as equipment and materials treated with HDG can last multiple generations, making it a highly cost-effective choice. The application of HDG to grain handling equipment showcases ingenuity in lifecycle planning, as it provides a long-lasting, maintenance-free solution that reduces downtime and ensures uninterrupted operations, which is critical in agriculture.

The Midwest’s agricultural industry presents one of the most challenging environments for equipment and infrastructure, with exposure to severe weather, high humidity, and corrosive conditions from fertilizers and grain storage. In such conditions, hot-dip galvanizing proves invaluable. The process provides a robust zinc coating that acts as a barrier against corrosion, ensuring the structural integrity of equipment and facilities over decades. This is especially critical for grain handling systems, which must withstand heavy usage and the elements without frequent maintenance. The durability of the hot-dip galvanized coating ensures little maintenance will need to be done over the years. This means more time can be focused in the fields, producing, and storing a quality product.

Without these grain handling systems, farmers would not be able to store the crops used to feed the world. This is exactly why Southeast Farmers Cooperative partnered with Lemar Industries and Landmarc Construction. Lemar is a leader in agricultural fabrication specializing in grain handling. As a subsidiary of CTB, Inc., Lemar offers complete grain handling and storage solutions. With precision in-house engineering and detailing using the latest CAD technology, Lemar delivers reliability and quality to customers’ exacting standards.

Lemar Industries' convenient location in Des Moines, Iowa, is at the crossroads of the nation with easy access to all points of the nation through the I-80/I-35 corridor. Lemar Industries has more than 100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art LEAN manufacturing space, more than 100,000 square feet of fabrication space, and carries a large inventory of steel on hand to meet any customer’s needs. Focused on ease of doing business, together Lemar and its sister companies provide a superior product offering to the growing grain, fertilizer, seed, feed, and aggregate & mining markets. Lemar is setting the standard for excellence worldwide.

This growing adoption not only enhances the longevity and reliability of agricultural infrastructure but also drives significant growth and innovation within the hot-dip galvanizing industry, showcasing the ingenuity required to meet the evolving demands of modern agriculture.