2013.1.3
PORTSMOUTH, Iowa -
Nearly 60 families or businesses in Shelby County, Iowa, are counting their losses as many got word Thursday of a grain elevator in Portsmouth closing its doors.
KETV NewsWatch 7’s I-Team retrieved court records that shows G & R Feed and Grain owes between $1 million and $10 million.
It could take six months or longer for families to get their money back, according to the trustee handling the case.
"It's going to put a lot of farmers in a bind. It's going to hurt them. It's going to hurt all of our businesses in town and the surrounding area,” said Mase Bruck, who owns a town diner.
Bruck said her brother, Roger Assmann, is one of the farmers who sold his grain to the company months ago under a deferred contract.
“That's what we do, and that's what most farmers do,” Assmann said.
Assmann and roughly 50 others expected to get a check on Wednesday that would have paid a large percentage of their 2013 expenses, but the checks never came.
Council Bluffs attorney Deborah Peterson said she needs to find a way to liquidate G & R and eventually figure out how much each farmer will get back.
The I-Team’s attempts to get in contact with the owner of G & R Feed and Grain were unsuccessful. Read the corporate response here. The owner's attorney declined to comment, as well. Read the attorney's notice