Northside Elevator celebrates 75 years of service

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ommendations, crop protection recommendations, crop scouting, and fertilizer delivery and application.

“We work with the farmers, so if you want more potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen or whatever it may be, we can do that. We create custom fertilizers,” said Mergen. “And we are full service, so I know there are many, many acres where we go and customapply fertilizers or crop protection products.”

Northside also buys corn and soybeans from farmers, and is a federally licensed grain dealer.

With purchasing commodities from farmers, delivering feed and fertilizers, Northside trucks are constantly on the move. The Northside fleet of trucks puts on more than 30,000 miles a week. Growth In May 2022, Northside announced its intention to construct a new $20 million agronomy facility in Stanley. That location opened this past April.

“We had customers that way and requests from people in that region. We found a site that suited us there,” said Mergen. “Being along Highway 29 is convenient because it’s a major corridor.

“The Stanley location allows us to serve customers in a bigger region,” he added. “We’re dealing with bulky, heavy, difficult-to-handle products. If farmers have to ship the product farther, it’s going to cost them more. So this is more cost effective for producers, large and small.”

The Stanley location includes a 40,000-square-foot warehouse and office right next to Highway 29. It offers complete agronomy services, the buying and selling of seed, and crop protection products. Agronomists sell a variety of seed, including corn, soybean, alfalfa, clover, grass and small grains (oats, rye, etc.).

Off the highway, there is a dry fertilizer plant, in which workers do custom blending and storing of fertilizer products. In the Loyal facility, a 24-ton batch of fertilizer can be blended and loaded in around 25 minutes, while in the new Stanley facility this can be accomplished in less than six minutes.

The site plans allow room for future expansion if the need arises.

“We got to draw the designs completely from scratch. The whole process took about 18 months. We worked with Boson Construction out of Marshfield and they did an excellent job, along with our director of operations, Dean Schiller,” said Mergen.

“Why we went to Stanley is that it’s a good proximity to the highway and rail infrastructure. This allowed us to build a rail spur to bring large quantities of product by railroad.”

Northside hopes to have the rail spur operational by late this summer. The facility will be used for transloading, the process of transferring cargo from one mode of transportation to another. Companies will have the ability to ship their products to that location and pick them up there.

“There’s been a lot of interest in that, in talking to other businesses in the area,” said Mergen.

Northside also receives products by rail at a leased facility in Marshfield.

Also last year, in July, the company purchased Buck Country Grain in Arcadia. This site provides another option for procuring locally grown commodities.

“We made that facility up-to-date. We also put in an automated grain probe,” said Mergen.

Over its history, Northside has continued to evolve and add more services to greater meet the needs of the agricultural community. The business received the Distinguished Organization Award from the Wisconsin Agri-Business Association.

“It’s exciting to see the company grow and expand,” said Mergen.

There will be an open house Sept. 12 at the Stanley location, 7602 345th St., Stanley, WI 54768.

Northside Elevator is an independent, family-owned business in Loyal that has been in operation since 1948.