Posted on October, 29, 2024 at 10:01 am
While many elevators had adequate space as harvest kicked off, harvest brought unique aspects that caused a few logistical challenges.
Bline said fieldwork in his areas has been constant with no rain delays, and that scenario applies to most of the state.
“The harvest has been unusual in the sense that we basically did all the soybean harvest before we did any corn,” he explained. “There was a three- or four-day period where the corn receipts were pretty intense.”
He said typically the Eureka location has a balance of corn and soybeans coming in at the same time.
“Soybean yields were so good, we ended up putting some soybeans in the corn space that we didn’t plan on because it was the most pressing need at the time,” Bline said. “So, we’ve been assessing our corn space needs and we’re just taking it day by day.”
Bline said overall the cooperative is good on space, but some locations are tighter than others and while putting corn on the ground is an option, he is hopeful they will be able to avoid that this season.
Bryan Rader, merchandising manager for FS Grain, said they, too, were anticipating a big crop and their Route 30 location near Amboy began piling corn in a bunker last week.
“That was built to use in a in a bigger yielding year or a fast-paced environment,” he said. “That’s just a temporary space pile that won’t stay on the ground very long.”
He said FS Grain has not had to find any emergency storage for grain yet this year. And with an estimated 30% of harvest left to get through in the area, he said they should be able to avoid that at their 18 locations in northern Illinois.
Boeker, who oversees elevators in Louisville, Watson, Sandoval, Greenville, Hookdale and Mulberry Grove, said workers in those locations saw most of the soybeans come in first. “Which was kind of a blessing,” he said. “It’s almost easier to handle one commodity at a time.”
He said soybean yields came in a bit lower than expected earlier in the season, which alleviated some of their space concerns and the late start to planting in his region should also ease the pressure.
“A lot of corn was planted after the 20th of May to the 10th of June here, so some people dropped acres and didn’t plant as much corn,” he said.
Boeker said the weather allowed both crops to dry naturally which makes elevator logistics a bit easier, too.
“My expectation two months ago was that we were going to see a lot of wet corn, but because of the unusually dry fall we have had to dry very little of either crop,” he noted.
Boeker said there is carry in the market right now so elevators and farmers alike are thinking outside of the box and finding places to store grain.
“When a farmer can get rewarded 20 or 30 cents for holding corn off the market for one or two months, they’re going to figure out a way to do that,” Boeker said. “They’re finding other locations or making other arrangements just to pick up that carry in the market.”
Source: Farm Week now