By RHIANNON BRANCH

FarmWeek

Local elevators across the state are working hard to free up as much bin space as possible before combines start rolling.

With a large amount of last year’s grain still in the bin and high yield expectations for the 2024 corn and soybean crops, industry representatives are questioning the availability of grain storage capacity heading into fall harvest.

A recent nationwide survey by Allendale Inc. suggested only 20 percent of new-crop sales have been marketed, and with USDA predicting record yields in Illinois and surrounding states, there could be a lot left waiting in the wings.

“You’re going to have a fair amount of corn in storage still going into harvest in a lot of areas of the Corn Belt, so storage is going to be a tight situation,” said Matt Bennett of AgMarket.net. “If Illinois truly sees a 225 bushel per acre corn yield, I expect to see a lot of corn piles this fall.”

In some cases, elevators may not want to take grain unless it is getting sold and that creates some implications growers will need to consider, he said.

“Later in the window for harvest a person could run into some interesting challenges as far as wide basis levels or simply having a place nearby that they can deliver,” Bennett said.

Stephen Nicholson, grain and oilseed strategist with Rabo AgriFinance, said he is optimistic there is enough room for record U.S. crops, but some will be on the ground before it is all said and done.

“I think you could have some local situations where you may have to truck it a little bit longer distance from home than you would want to,” he said. “Or you may have to put those old bins you don’t normally use into service until they get unplugged at the local elevator, local port, or in your own storage at home.”

Local elevators have indicated they are preparing the best they can to handle a potentially record crop.

Scott Sims, western region manager with Western Grain Marketing in McDonough County, said there is still a lot of old crop being moved around. August marked the end of the fiscal year, and Western Grain Marketing had a record fourth quarter for grain movement.

“We dumped 9.5 million bushels in those three months. It was almost like a harvest,” he said. “We have been working to get trains in and get inventory down.”

He noted some delays in the rail system to and from Mexico due to high demand.

“Last I knew there were close to 30 trains sitting on the other side of the border waiting to get back across and about 20 trains loaded on this side waiting to go over.”

But he said they are still able to move grain by rail domestically.

Mark Heil, manager at Prairie Central Co-op based in McLean County, said his co-op plans to ship a few more trains out at harvest time in anticipation of a corn crop similar to last year and a bigger soybean crop than 2023 in the area.

He said the co-op also has some buildings they plan to use for overflow. 

“We really haven’t used those in recent years, but we will utilize that storage space this year if we need to,” he told FarmWeek. “I think there are a few more alternatives at play here.”

Heil noted that the wide planting window last spring will likely translate to a longer harvest season, which creates more time to work out logistics and free up more space.

“We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out as we get started,” he said.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.