Craig Farmers Coop

STRONG PATRONAGE

$890,000 in dividends paid to patrons in 2021.

All deferred equity paid up to 2013.

Our Coop is designed to grow with your needs, and support your interests – both on and off the farm.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Donations and other support provided annually to multiple FFA programs, local fi re departments, town projects, livestock shows, school programs.

26336 C-12, LeMars, IA 51031 712-562-6544 | www.craigcoop.com

AUCTIONEER ON A NATIONAL STAGE

beginning of an upward trajectory in the auctioneering profession. “In 1984, I went to watch the World Livestock Auction Championships at Huron, S.D. Boy, I just got bit by the bug instantly thinking, ‘Wow, these guys are really, really good.’” He practiced in the office and recorded himself at sales. “I listen back to those old tapes now and I was so terrible that anybody with any brains would have quit. But I wasn't smart enough to quit and so I just kept practicing and practicing.” Taking part in auction competitions forced him to get better. In 1993, he won both the Greater Midwest Livestock Auction Championship and International Championship held in Calgary, Canada. The International win got him into the World Championships in 1994. He won in ’94 and it proved to be a

springboard of notoriety and helped the company expand its brand. “It was just one of those things where everything fell into place. The good Lord said, ‘Okay, it's your time to do this.’” In 1996, he was part of the Festival of American Folklife at the Smithsonian Institute where he gave 34 lectures over 2 weeks on the art of auctioneering and where it fit into the American history story. “That was fun, and really enlightening. After that, Bruce Brock conducting an October auction which featured the highest selling farmland ever in Plymouth County I did a lot of television, a history (and the highest in the state until a new record was set in November). lot of work with sports and country western celebrities, and worked on stage with politicians.” Billionaires bid on art he auctioned in places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Sante Fe, New Mexico. Among the rich and famous he’s met at fundraising auctions have been Vice President Dick Cheney, country music stars Trace Adkins and Hank Williams Jr., comedian Larry The Cable Guy and Gov. Sarah Palin. He’s proud of the millions of dollars he’s helped raise

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