Chamber honors Rawhide Chemoil

Robert Weiss first began delivering gas and diesel fuel to area farmers in 1967.

Forty-two years later, the business he started is still providing those services and many more.

Rawhide Chemoil, which was incorporated in 1980 with Weiss as president and his wife, Carolyn, as secretary, has been chosen as the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce’s Agricultural Business of the Year.

While there have been several changes in the industry since Weiss began making deliveries, there also have been some things that have stayed the same, including the customers.

“A lot of good ones have been with us for a long time,” Rawhide Chemoil president Jennifer Weiss said. “I think a lot of that is because we try to do what’s best for them.”

Jennifer Weiss took over as president of the company in January with Brenda Doernemann as secretary. Both are daughters of Robert and Carolyn, who still remain on the board of directors in an advisory capacity.

Because the business has stayed in the family, relationships with customers have developed over the years since Robert started making deliveries for Standard Oil.

“We’ve also become good friends with a lot of them,” Carolyn Weiss said.

While the company started out of Robert and Carolyn’s home, it grew to eventually go into a garage and office building before moving into its current office and warehouse space at 2650 N. Rawhide Drive.

Rawhide Chemoil, which has 14 employees, delivers gas and diesel fuel to farmers and also delivers to commercial and trucking accounts in the surrounding area and parts of western Iowa.

The company supplies propane for home heating and other agricultural uses — including irrigation, barn heating and crop drying — to more than 800 customers, Jennifer Weiss said.

Rawhide Chemoil also offers fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, grease and oil, sprayer parts and propane parts and tanks.

Since the spring of 2008, the company has been a dealer for Pioneer Seed.

Jennifer Weiss said about half of Rawhide Chemoil’s business comes from fuel sales, while the other half is made up of fertilizer, farm chemical and seed sales.

She said the company has some simple goals for the future.

“We want to continue to grow each aspect of our business,” she said.

Weiss said she is proud that her family’s business was honored by the Chamber.

“We appreciate the recognition and we hope that we continue to earn everybody’s respect,” Weiss said.

Rawhide Chemoil was nominated for the award by Ron Schultz, an accredited farm manager for Pathfinder Company.

“I have done business with this company since 1972,” Schultz wrote in his nomination. “They are knowledgeable about their products and provide excellent service and honesty. They are also pleasant people to do business with, including their employees.”