News

Bountiful Illinois harvest creates piles of corn

Millions of bushels of Illinois corn are already in temporary or emergency storage and there’s a lot of harvest to be done.  Illinois Corn Growers Executive Director Rod Weinzierl (WINE-zurl) says these are the piles of corn that dot the landscape in the fall.

“We have such an abundance that we have a very high request of temporary and emergency storage [applications] that elevators throughout the state are filing, and will continue to fill our regular storage as well as this temporary and emergency storage as we move towards the end of harvest,” Weinzierl told Brownfield Ag News Friday.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture says more than 110 million bushels of temporary corn storage are authorized or waiting for authorization.  To qualify for temporary storage, grain must be contained within a bunker wall on blacktop or concrete and be covered with a tarp with fan aeration.

It’s also more difficult to transport the harvest this fall.  Railroads are overextended for various reasons including because of North Dakota’s oil boom.  Weinzierl says Illinois is far enough from the oil fields that the full effect is avoided, but it’s still felt.

“There’s a spillover effect that is beginning to affect the barge industry and the available barges and our ability long-term to move grains, whether it’s corn or soybeans, to export markets,” said Weinzierl.

It’s estimated that by the end of harvest, temporary and emergency storage will exceed historic averages.

AUDIO: Rod Weinzierl (9 min. MP3)