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When Burton Etchison took the helm of the Stewart Grain Co. in 1982, the business was using the same type of grain scale book that his father and grandfather used, when they were running the elevator business beginning in 1922. In 1989, Stewart Grain began using AgVision grain accounting software instead and has never looked back, Etchison says.
“As an elevator, we have to stay on top on things daily,” he says. “Farmers are going to require more real-time information, and we can provide that with AgVision. We are customer-driven and have to provide what our customers need.” If Stewart Grain didn’t have the best interest of its customers in mind, it wouldn’t have been in business for as long as it has, Etchison notes.
Stewart Grain has been in the Etchison family’s control for three generations, starting in 1922 when Burton Etchison’s grandfather, Bert Etchison (first name spelled with an “e”) became a partner in the Stewart elevator and also the operator. He bought out his partners over the next few years. Bert’s son, Elmer, took over in 1946, when he returned home from the Navy. Burton Etchison took over the operation in 1982.
Since then, Stewart Grain has grown from 425,000 bushels of storage capacity to 5.8 million bushels. Stewart Grain added a location at Bismarck, IL in 1997 and several other locations. Only the Stewart and Bismarck operations remain open.
Stewart Grain uses AgVision’s Commodity Manager, Scale Interface, Accounting, and AgVisionAnytime.com at its two locations.
“Our experience with AgVision has been positive, because it has grown with the grain industry and stayed current with our needs,” Etchison says. “And, AgVision has got nice people.”
AgVision’s Commodity Manager is a user-friendly and easy-to-manage system, Etchison notes. “I can do the balance sheets and financials myself on a monthly basis. I didn’t enjoy doing it for years, but after a copious amount of help from AgVision, I do now.”
The Scale Interface program provides Stewart Grain with the ability to process ownership relationships and contract applications more exactly at the scale, according to Etchison.
Stewart Grain started using the AgVisionanytime.com portal during the 2016 harvest. “It can automatically send a text or e-mail at the moment a grain scale ticket is completed. Second, customers can log in and look at the amounts of the bushels they’ve delivered or examine their open contracts or even their obligations for storage or price-later contracts.”
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL January/February 2017 Issue
