Topflight Grain Cooperative
main facility looking southwest, Bement, Illinois.
Photo © 1995 Virginia Dahms

The 650,000 bushel galvanized bin was the largest of its kind in the world at the time of its installation.

Formed in 1998 as the consolidation of three local cooperatives, Topflight Grain Cooperative is located in east central Illinois, serving producers in Piatt, Macon, Moultrie, Douglas & Champaign counties. Permanent storage capacity of the eighteen facilities is 18.1 million bushels. Annual volume of the company is 22 million bushels, with sales exceeding $100 million.

Due to the optimal location of the company on three rail lines and its location just 25 miles from Decatur, Illinois, world headquarters of ADM Growmark and A E Staley corn and soybean processing plants, Topflight Grain is in a position for timely grain marketing from receipt of grain to its final destination. The numerous trucking firms that serve the company ensure prompt delivery of truck grain sold in the nearby processing markets.

Facilities at Bement, Milmine and Monticello are located directly on the Norfolk Southern rail main line, allowing shipments of grain into Decatur, movement to the Illinois river, east coast, or the export market. Through a reciprocal agreement, switching on the Illinois Central affords the opportunity for export markets via the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico is also accessible from the Cisco facility, where the company owns the 13.5-mile rail road that connects Cisco to the Decatur markets and the IC rail service. The IC market is also available to the Seymour facility for a direct shipment to the southern markets. The CSXT rail line serves the facilities at Pierson Station, Atwood, and LaPlace, reaching the south-eastern US markets.

Topflight Grain Cooperative, Inc. is a state licensed grain dealer. The licenses are protected thorough annual audits by the State of Illinois. Year-end financial and grain audits are prepared by certified accountants, and presented at the Company's annual stockholder meeting. Topflight Grain is also a member of the Illinois Grain Insurance Corporation which insures grain owners against elevator failure.