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History of Valley R Agri-Service 06/17/15 9:45:43 AM
 Valley R Farm Service, Incorporated was first founded in 1974 by Gene Raymond, Dale Raymond, and Dale Fooshee. The name originated from Fooshee owning Valley Vista Farms, and the Raymond brothers owning Lazy R Farms. Combining the two titles, they formed Valley R. These three men originally used Fooshee’s grain bins and built a small scalehouse, barely big enough to host two people. A few years later, they built a warehouse, added four 25,000 bushel grain bins and a freestanding leg. Time passed and the men had four more 25,000 bushel bins built. Wayne Pracht bought in as part owner. The four men then purchased a grain elevator and small feed mill in Centerville, Kansas, however when times got rough, they found that selling the Centerville location would be a wise decision.
In November of 2004, Valley R Farm Service, Inc. was purchased by George Miller, Jim Mechnig, and Dave, Bill, and John Pracht, sons of previous owner Wayne. The name was changed to Valley R AgriService  and two years later, these five men added a 106,000 bushel grain bin and 1,200 square feet to the warehouse. In 2008, they had a new leg built at the east bin and in the fall of 2010, a 45 by 90 foot Quonset hut was built. In April 2011, tragedy struck when a wind storm damaged two bins and destroyed the new leg. The owners had the bins repaired and just four months later, another windstorm took one of the repaired bins away and damaged the other. The men had had enough with the wind and removed the damaged bin and replaced both bins with a 165,000 bushel concrete silo and attached a new leg to it. In 2012, they had a 70 foot scale added to the operation.
Currently, Valley R AgriService boasts a storage capacity of 400,000 bushels, with two 32,000 bushel grain bins, two 25,000 bushel bins, one 100,000 bushel bin, and one 165,000 bushel silo. We have a 70 foot scale, two legs, and a 3,600 square foot warehouse.
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