Farmers Cooperative delivering $90,000 in assistance to those impacted by floods

The Farmers Cooperative in Beatrice said it’s about to ship around $90,000 worth of assistance to farmers and ranchers who were devastated by the recent floods.

It includes feed, fencing, supplies and cash.

“They’re going to have a lot of bills, their income may be down because of the disaster, because of the impact of it,” sales and marketing manager Dennis Kenning said.  “In some ways, it’s only a small way to help them, but if there’s any way that we can help them, we’re glad to do that.”

They said that $90,000 total exceeded their expectations in donations, thanks in no small part to their employees and patrons.

“We kind of started out with $10,000 from the company, with our board of directors and our management,” Kenning said.  “Then we worked with our vendors to get up to $40,000 and kind of made it a challenge for our employees and patrons and they really came through.”

The 2019 floods killed livestock, torn down fences and caused long–term damage to farmland.

Feed department manager Kevin Wittler said he raises horses and cattle and that his land was flooded a few years ago.  He said he understands what these farmers and ranchers are going through.

“They’ve got far more devastation up there than we had,” Wittler said.  “You get to a point where you feel pretty helpless for awhile and so hopefully this can lift some spirits that they’re not alone.”

Farmers Cooperative said its truck load of goods is moving out Wednesday morning.  It’ll stop in Columbus and then Elkhorn, distributing supplies to producers.