COVID-19 Notification

These past few weeks has been something NONE of us have ever seen before.  And none of us want to ever have to relive again.  This situation is undoubtedly impacting our daily lives and personal interactions.  It has also created unprecedented uncertainty for our industry. We understand that the impact is already being felt through lost dollars in cash price and demand destruction stemming from ethanol plant closures and weakened demand in the livestock sector.  With the Public Health Disaster Emergency at our doorstep, nearly every business has had to adapt the way we conduct our business in order to protect our employees, their families, our business partners and our customers.  Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees, customers and the community we work in.  With that in mind, we are taking the necessary steps IMMEDIATELY and implementing a variety of precautionary measures to ensure that we can continue serving you. 
 

1. We remain OPEN FOR BUSINESS, fully operational and fully staffed.  All of our Sales, services, and operational components of grain, feed, agronomy and our layer operations will continue to serve the needs of Great Bend Coop and its patrons.
2. Inbound deliveries of products and materials will remain in order to prepare for the upcoming agronomy season and continue our feed services.  We ask delivery drivers to practice social distancing and remain in their trucks as we unload them.  Our supply chain continues to ensure we are well positioned to support you.  However, there is a possibility that new protocols distributed by the CDC or other government entities could cause delays in industry production schedules and transportation of parts, ingredients, and other products that are out of our control.  Please be patient as we work through any unforeseen delays.  To help ensure your operation remains fully supplied, we encourage you to consider additional time when communicating any needs you have with us (feed ordering, agronomy services, seed delivery, etc.)  Placing orders earlier than you normally would can allow us to plan better to serve your needs especially if there are unforeseen delays beyond our control.
3. While face-to-face relationships are an important part of who we are, at this time we will be emphasizing using other forms of communication if at all possible (phone, email, text, etc.)  In accordance with CDC guidance, Great Bend Coop is suspending foot traffic into our office.  If you need to conduct an on-site visit, please coordinate this beforehand with the General Manager, the Sales staff, or Office personnel PRIOR to arrival.  Our sales team, truck/delivery drivers, office personnel and operational employees will be encouraged to practice social distancing and other precautionary measures both at home, at work, or on your farm to promote both their safety and yours.
4. When interacting with our employees, please respect our employees with social distancing.  Maintain a 6 foot distance and avoid hand-shake greetings. 
5. We will also be restricting access to some areas of our facilities to encourage the social distancing concept of reducing the numbers of people that congregate in one area.  We still want to ensure that your expectations are met and will do everything possible to meet your needs without disruption. 
   1. All non-essential visitors will be barred access to our facilities.
   2. All meetings and non-essential travel will be restricted.
   3. If you are in need of bagged feed or other products, please call ahead and stay in your vehicle and our team will load the product for you. 
   4. Please submit any payments and contracts returned by mail. 
   5. Any checks issued to you will be sent by mail as well. 
   6. Deliveries of bulk feed will continue normally but the driver will have no contact with customers.
   7. For grain deliveries, please call first.  Please instruct drivers to remain in their trucks/tractors and we will unload them.
   8. For our truckers that are taking grain from the facility, please limit the amount of time spent out of the truck to tarping and monitoring the filling process only.
6. We urge all employees, customers and business partners who feel sick to stay at home.

Our goals are quite simple – to maintain a healthy and vibrant workforce that can assist in your needs.  This will be especially critical with the spring season nearly upon us.  During this time, we need EVERY employee that we have to service our customers’ needs.  Without healthy employees, it can prove difficult to complete our spring agronomy tasks in a timely, efficient manner.  Everyone has a role to play in keeping everyone in our communities safe. 
 
The updates and changes to protocols that we’ve been receiving seem to be constantly changing or updated.  Please be patient as we review our procedures, follow guidelines that are put out and adapt our business practices accordingly.  We will communicate any changes as soon as we implement them.  We look forward to resuming normal activities as soon as conditions allow.  Thank you for your understanding as we work through this TOGETHER!  If you have ANY questions on this matter or need further clarification, PLEASE call and ask.
 
Respectfully,
 
 
 
Duane Anderson
CEO, Great Bend Coop