(The Associated Press circulated the following on August 9.)
TAYLOR, N.D. — Regional elevator managers are dumping wheat on the ground, saying the grain trains are behind schedule.
This year’s wheat crop is ranging from record-breaking yields to above average, and many farmers are selling immediately at harvest. The price is strong at $5.60 a bushel, and many producers need cash to catch up on last year, when there was virtually no crop for many of them.
The situation is frustrating to the elevator managers who booked trains months ago, only to find themselves looking at empty tracks.
BNSF Railway Co. spokesman Kevin Kaufman said the average train delay in North Dakota is five days, but harvest pressure may extend that to 10 days.
BNSF has added more cars and has turned around trains quicker in the past two years, he said. Two years ago, trains were running up to a month behind schedule.
At Sterling, South Central manager Jeff Mehl said harvest is almost full swing.
He said the terminal’s full at 550,000 bushels, and he’s been forced to dump 165,000 bushels on the ground.
Mehl said he’ll stop taking wheat when he’s got 400,000 bushels on the ground.
In Taylor, Southwest Grain Terminal manager Jim Bobb said he has 2 million bushels in storage now, all he can put inside. He started dumping on the ground Monday.
Bobb said he needs a train every two to three days through August to keep up.
Cleve Teske, assistant grain manager at Scranton Equity Elevator, said the Scranton area is in the heart of harvest.
“Things are backed up and stacked up,” he said.
Teske said the elevator’s spring wheat storage of 1.3 million bushels filled over the weekend and farmers will have to store in bins or on the ground. The elevator doesn’t dump outside.