OSMOND — After many years of service to the community, and with the changes in ownership, the Osmond location of Summit Contracting is going to be closed at the end of this year.
In 1965, Loyal (L. F.) Petersen and son Jerry formed a partnership they named L. F. Petersen & Son, which later became Petersen Ag. Last year, the business was sold to Summit Contracting.
John Halsey, a long-time employee, explained, “The Petersens sold out to Jim Fritz, Jim Schmit, and Bob Steele. They had it for about 10-12 years, then they sold to the Aschoff brothers – Henry and Walt, and a brother-in-law, Keith Wiehn. They had it from about 2000 to December of 2023, when Henry sold to Summit Contracting.”
According to John, Summit is moving their base of operations for this group to Norfolk. All of their stores are about two hours apart, which is the set-up they prefer, and this one is too close to the Norfolk location, so this one will close and be combined with the Norfolk location.
The business is mostly in service, now, John said, and not really in sales anymore — not like it was.
The last five employees of the busi ness at the Osmond location include John, who has been employed here 45 years; Joe Schmit, 24 years; Jared Halsey, 20 years; Kristie Schultze, 14½ years, and Jakob Meier, 4 years.
Four of the remaining five employ ees from the Osmond location will now be working out of the Norfolk office, with Kristie Schultze working from home here in Osmond a couple of days each week.
Joe Schmit will be retiring from Summit Contracting, Inc.
The five remaining employees sat down to share their thoughts on the closing, and the changes through the years.
John, who worked for the original owners, Jerry and L. F. (Loyal) Petersen, commented, “We feel it kinda tugs at our hearts a little bit, to have this place close down.”
They chuckled about the fact that his son, Jared, has been around the business since he was a baby.
Jared commented that everybody’s business takes care of everyone else: Buchanan Well does the wells, Lind-Gubbels does the legwork, Petersen & Son/Petersen Ag/Summit did the pivot work. “We all felt like we were part of farmers’ success – we’re part of their business as well as running our own business.”
Jared said, “The thing that I get a lot – are we still going to be here? Yes, we’re still going to be here, but we’re going to come to see you this time instead of you coming to see us. Like we said, the ag world is changing, and this is what we believe is our next step. Our next step is to be under one roof and be on the same team. We’re a half hour away, we’re kind of competing with each other’s store now. Things are starting to get more aggressive, as far as sales and service. There isn’t so much in sales now, we’re focused on what we can get out of the land now vs. making new developments.”
John noted the way things have changed over the years, “L. F. lived out in the front house out here, and his son Jerry came back and got the fertilizer going. We used to have 5060-some employees here at one time. Several businesses have sprung off of this one — Lind-Gubbels got started through here. Jerry got Ray Gubbels and Rich Lind out here and had them build bins until they got big enough and started their own company. Walter Aschoff, he started out here. Bob Steele set him up in the building business and he built buildings, so he was another one that spun off of here. And of course, Henry, he was with Walt, then they bought it.
Joe added, “Things have evolved, from 50 employees. As each thing changed — the fertilizer part got sold off to Helena too and dropped some employees — the business kept changing and evolved down to what we are now, because everything has branched out from it. So it has a very strong key-hold in the community as far as all the businesses that have spun off and built up from it.”
"This company was the first Lindsay-Zimmatic dealer in the state of Nebraska,” John said, “and sold irrigation systems, fertilizer, solar panels, TVs, microwaves, satellite dishes and grain bins, and assembled buildings, even steel-framed houses - the first one to do
it in the state. We bought it in Texas, and built it down in Norfolk. There was a lot of diversity. We sold seed corn and chemicals — all that used to be out of here. . . You can do a lot in 75 years.” As John and Joe explained, Jerry and Loyal got started with the base business, then started stores in O’Neill and Centerville, SD. When Jerry decided to get out of the business after Loyal died, they sold those two stores. Then when the Aschoff brothers bought the business, they acquired Hartington, Fremont and a location in Iowa. They also had a store in Norfolk at that time. They eventually sold the Hartington and Fremont stores, so there were three left that Summit bought — Norfolk, Iowa and Osmond.
They shared their thoughts on this newest change: “It’s tough,” John said. “It’s almost like getting a divorce. You know, you’ve done something for so long. I don’t know if some mornings when I wake up in a fog I might automatically drive up here.”
Joe commented, “The hardest thing for me is the ties we have in the community. That’s going to be hard on our farm community. It’s happening with all types of businesses. The businesses are trying to survive and adapt to the economy. You know, the farmers have to go farther and farther for things that they need. And these companies are trying to consolidate so they can keep control of their costs. I can see why it’s happening, but for me the biggest hurt is losing this in the community.”
“The community’s always been great,” John agreed. “Osmond is a great town. It’s always taken care of the people that are in it. This place is being closed not because of the people. The people have done great for us. It’s just management.”
Jared added, “Like he said, nobody likes change, and sometimes I see the negative side, but you know there’s a lot of positive sides that come with this as well. It’s going to be different. But as far as our service, we’re just gonna keep going. I take care of the guys around here. I still love the relationships I’ve made throughout the years and I hope that continues.”
“The whole thing has been kinda hard,” Kristie commented. “I’ve been here for 14½ years, but my biggest concern is I just want the customers to know how much we appreciate their loyalty to us, and trusting us with all of their agricultural needs. And I just want them to know that, even though we’re not just down the road anymore, we’re just a phone call away. So they can always just reach out to us. We’re going to be here for them and we’re going to work really hard to make sure that we can help them in any way we can with their parts and service. We’re not going anywhere, we’re just moving.”
