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"Whether it's 10 cents or $5, we just hope to do better than nothing and get something out of our contracts," said Dick Bossen of Arcadia, Neb., a cattle feeder and corn grower who sold corn to VeraSun's plant in Ord, Neb.
Bossen is one of an unknown number of corn farmers left in a lurch by the bankruptcy filing -- farmers who had contracts to sell grain at favorable prices to local VeraSun plants.
He and nearly 200 other corn growers and others from Nebraska to Michigan met privately with VeraSun leaders at the Livestock Exchange Building in Omaha to ask about the contracts they hold with VeraSun and hear about the company's plan to auction seven ethanol plants across the region.
The VeraSun contingent was led by James Bonsall Jr., who joined the company as its chief restructuring officer after the bankruptcy filing.
"We see optimism," he said. "They should, too."
It was the first formal meeting of an ad hoc corn suppliers group of about 100 farmers and grain dealers from Iowa and Nebraska, a national creditors committee and VeraSun officials.
Omaha attorney Don Swanson, who represents the ad hoc group of growers, said he and his clients were pleased with what they heard from VeraSun officials.
One breakthrough, he said, was a VeraSun promise not to enforce a provision that could have required farmers to accept market price for future grain deliveries on other contracts if they cashed VeraSun payment checks.
"That was extremely helpful," Swanson said. "There are a lot of checks out there. Everybody should get them cashed."
VeraSun is the nation's No. 2 ethanol producer with 16 plants in eight states. The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company declared bankruptcy Oct. 31, 2008.
Its three Nebraska plants, in Ord, Central City and Albion, all have been idled as a result of the bankruptcy filing. The Ord and Central City plants have been offered for sale.
The main issue in the bankruptcy is whether people who hold contracts to deliver grain to now-closed VeraSun plants can get any compensation for the difference in value if they now sell the grain on the open market.
Some farmers had contracts to sell corn for $6 and $7 to VeraSun in coming months, and now corn is worth around $4 in the cash and futures market.
--Contact the writer: 444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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