Elevators Scramble To Find Home For Bumper Crop

Oct 29, 2015

Grain elevators have been challenged to keep up with the uninterrupted pace of harvest 2015.

If there would have been a break between corn and soybeans, grain elevators may have had a chance to catch up, but with none they have resorted to creative options to find homes for the bumper crop.

Some elevators were forced — because of the size of the soybean crop — to put soybeans in outside bunker storage that is normally reserved for corn. Others put soybeans in bins that were reserved for corn.

“We’re probably using about every bit of storage space we have available,” said Bob Zelenka, executive director of the Minnesota Grain and Feed Association.

Bins and bunkers are full and limited grain is moving as the markets have been fairly flat, he said. There are long lines at ethanol and soybean processing plants.

With more than 75 percent of Minnesota’s grain storage located on farm, farm bins were likely filled first, he said. Others may have moved more soybeans to town to save room for corn.

With corn coming out of the field with moisture in the teens, there’s little need for commercial drying so grain elevators aren’t making much money drying corn this fall, he said.

“The access to transportation hasn’t been a problem,” Zelenka said, but little grain is moving. Railroads have added capacity since the debacle of 2013, he said.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.