Luckey Farmers finished its 104th year with strong results. We achieved net savings of $5,025,641 from $171,298,543 in total sales. Although total sales dollars declined this past year due to supply cost and grain values slipping off their highs, unit sales remained strong with growth in volume occurring in all departments of the company. These numbers mean we will return to the membership $3,000,000 in patronage of which 45% will be distributed in cash. This amounts to 17.5 cents per bushel on local grain sales, 6 cents per bushel on direct grain sales, 3.9% on agronomy purchases, and 3.9% on fuel purchases.
Over this past year we have remained committed to reinvesting in your cooperative. We completed a grain automation project at our Graytown facility and a grain expansion at our Sugar Ridge facility this past year. In addition to those large capital projects, we also invested $1.7 million in fixed asset expenditures at our other facilities as well.
Looking forward to this current year, we are excited to be investing in additional grain storage and speed at our Lemoyne facility. We recently purchased the land directly east of our Lemoyne facility, which will give us the much-needed space to expand at that site. Work is currently underway at this new site where a future new high capacity receiving pit and leg will fill a new 105-foot diameter bin. The addition of this bin will add 725,000 bushels of grain storage to the Lemoyne facility and our Luckey Farmers footprint.
We also welcomed the Ida Farmers employees, members, and customers on February 1, 2024, when our merger was officially completed. As we integrate these two Cooperatives together, we are already pleased with the synergies and shareholder value that the combined teams are delivering.
I want to say thank you to everyone who played a part in making this past year a success. It truly takes an entire team and a committed membership to make our Cooperative a success! We appreciate your business and look forward to working with you again in the year ahead.
