b"Above and opposite The fires at the Johnson's factory caused extensive damage and significant losses.A quick study, Denis began looking for hay storage options away from the factories.He approached John Mitchell, a grower from Mintaro in the Clare Valley, who had been We were out of supplying hay to the Johnsons since the mid-1980s. Denis asked John if hed consider setting up a depot storage shed. His pitch was this: other growers supplying hay to theperson on.Johnsons could also store their hay in the shed. business for twelve months John was amenable to the idea. The first onein that department, but we built was a share arrangementwe paidDad kept every single half, they paid half, explains John. And then we bought out their share and leased it back to them. In the first year or two, there wasa droughtthere was hardly any hay in theshed at all. But we still had commitmentswith the bank. I thought, well, this is goingto be interesting. But the cheque still came along every month like clockwork.JOHNSONS100 YEARS IN THE MAKING NEW PARTNERSHIPS 59"