Demolition is underway at the site of the former Farmers Cooperative (FC) west of Perry at the corner of 130th Street and I Avenue — just north of Tyson Fresh Meats and east of the brownfields.
FC relocated its operation in 2014 from the site on Perry’s western boundary, where it stored grain, liquid and granular fertilizer and anhydrous ammonia for more than 30 years, to a 40-acre parcel purchased from Chad Pennington north of Perry at the corner of Iowa Highway 144 and Clover Avenue.
The company merged with the West Central Cooperative of Ralston, Iowa, in April 2016 and formed the Landus Cooperative.
The FC-West Central merger brought together more than 70 grain, agronomy and feed locations in 26 Iowa and three Minnesota counties, making Landus the seventh-largest grain company in North America based on storage capacity.
The question of what will happen to FC’s vacated property on Perry’s western edge remains undecided. FC officials told the Boone County Planning and Zoning Commission in 2013 that it planned to demolish the buildings on the old site but had not yet decided what to do with the land under them.
Officials with the city of Perry indicated to FC at that time a willingness to apply for an environmental site assessment (ESA) grant to conduct the phase I and II testing for the property, an offer that would have saved FC the cost of the required tests, but the arrangement was contingent on FC’s giving the land to Perry outright.
According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules, a company is responsible for cleaning up behind itself when it abandons a location, including performing an ESA.
Former Perry City Administrator Butch Niebuhr said he told the FC management in 2014 the city of Perry would seek the ESA grant for the sake of public health and with an interest in bringing the former FC grounds into line with other plans for the brownfield area on Perry’s western limits along the North Raccoon River.
Once cleaned up, the Perry site — just north of Tyson Fresh Meats and the Brownfields project — has potential for new recreational or industrial development.
