Audio Grain storage problems at elevators (story audio) Photos A growing soybean pile Larry Olsen Art Benda Tools E-mail this page Print this page Sponsor

FCA Co-op in Jackson is storing soybeans on the ground because its permanent bins are almost full. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil)

Grain storage is becoming a problem for Minnesota farmers as they harvest some of their largest corn and soybean crops ever. Local elevators are nearly full and many are piling grain on the ground. A large harvest and Hurricane Katrina are some of the reasons for the storage problems.

Jackson, Minn. — The FCA Co-op in Jackson can store millions of bushels of corn and soybeans in a variety of concrete and steel bins. Those bins are almost full and it's not just this year's crop, some is leftover from last year. Co-op grain manager Larry Olsen says that's a headache.

"You don't sleep a lot at night," says Olsen. "You're doing a lot of thinking at night, what am I going to do the next day to solve the problem. By six o'clock you haven't solved it yet."

The only solution is to dump grain on the ground. Olsen watches a portable auger do just that as it unloads soybeans from a truck. The beans are elevated to the top of an ever growing pile that could be stamped "bumper crop". Some area farmers have reported soybean yields as high as 70 bushels an acre, 50 percent above normal. Olsen says the company is taking in more beans than it's selling to regional buyers like soybean crushing plants. He says the co-op is shipping beans out of Jackson but it's a slow process.

"We've had probably 10-12 semis on the road for 10 days straight here now," says Olsen. "These guys are getting tired, they're wore out. We haven't even started the corn yet and that's going to be another major, major problem."

Olsen is experiencing first hand what agricultural analysts like to call a backed-up transportation system. Once grain is harvested it must go somewhere. The usual path is field to elevator to a final destination: maybe a grain processing plant in the next county or a ship bound for a foreign country. Like water, grain flows.

This fall's heavy rains showed homeowners what happens when the storm sewer system gets full. Their yards, or even their basements, became, in effect, temporary water storage sites until the system recovered and drained everything away.

So too, with grain. Huge corn, soybean and wheat supplies have overwhelmed the nation's transportation system. So it backs up. Much of the overflow covers the ground at the elevator yard. Jerry Fruin is a grain marketing specialist at the University of Minnesota.

"Storing on the ground, is basically a typical response, it's not that we don't do it almost every year," says Fruin. "This year is just going to be the biggest piles ever."

Fruin says the grain storage problem started with two consecutive years of great crops nationwide. He says that fact alone meant problems. Then Hurricane Katrina temporarily halted a key transportation component, barge traffic on the Mississippi River.

"Losing that three to four weeks of shipments to the Gulf just makes what was going to be a confused and ugly situation, worse," says Fruin.

The clogged system means shippers are desperate. They bid against each other for every barge or rail car. The competition, along with higher fuel prices, has pushed transportation costs to record levels. Fruin says it cost about 93 cents a bushel to ship corn on a Mississippi River barge, double the previous record. That's a bill most farmers can't afford to pay.

The big harvest has driven down the price they're paid for corn and soybeans to break even levels. Subtract transportation costs and they'd lose money. So, many will hold their grain awaiting better prices, storing it either on the farm or at the local elevator.

At the FCA Co-op in Jackson, farmer Art Benda watches the soybean pile grow. He says despite the storage problems and low prices, he's optimistic. Rain delayed work but he's making progress. The best news is yield. Combines are finding a lot of corn and soybeans in the field. He says the biggest unknown is storing grain outside.

"Hopefully the weather stays nice," says Benda. "That's the worst thing can happen on these piles outside is get a bunch of wet snow you know."

Minnesota farmers have a lot of grain yet to pick. Two-thirds of the soybeans are in, but only 8 percent of the corn has been harvested. With early yields in the record or near record range, managers like Larry Olsen have more sleepless nights ahead.