SHERMAN, TX-Texas grain producers have voted not to establish a statewide grain indemnity fund.
The Texas Department of Agriculture said the proposal didn't receive the two-thirds of the vote needed to pass. It would have created an insurance fund to help protect farmers against the risks of selling or storing grain in a warehouse.
The Texas Legislature passed legislation to create the Texas Grain Producer Indemnity Board after an agricultural catastrophe at Dorchester Grains, in Grayson county. Almost a hundred Texoma farmers lost everything they had. Grain elevator owner John Chumbley pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was ordered to pay back $400,000 to those farmers.