Staff writer
Area grain farmers who market grain through local cooperatives may see the cash price they receive increase due to the new grain terminal being built west of Canton.
Lyman Adams, Manager of Cooperative Grain and Supply, said farmers may see one-and-a-half to two cents per bushel over the basis price.
After the 1 million bushel elevator and the railroad track are completed, the facility will be able to ship grain by 100-car trains to markets around the world. Adams said traditionally, trainload bids are higher than bids on smaller amounts of grain.
The terminal is partly owned by Team Marketing Alliance, of which Cooperative Grain and Supply and Mid-Kansas Cooperative are partners.
One million bushels of wheat are already stored in a bunker at the site, and another bunker is currently being filled with corn. After construction is completed, the grain will be transferred to the elevator for loading onto trains. Each train will transport up to 400,000 bushels of grain.
Co-ops that are members of TMA can store their grain at the terminal until farmers sell it. Adams said Hillsboro shipped some wheat to the terminal this summer.
The co-op’s Marion location had 10 semis contracted Thursday to haul corn to the new grain terminal. Manager Mike Thomas figured they would move 45,000 bushels before the day was out.
“We are going to take way more corn than we can hold, so we may as well get started,” he said.
Adams said farmers can truck their grain directly to the terminal, if they so choose, so it could potentially reduce their use of local elevators, thereby reducing revenue for the local co-ops.
However, he sees the new facility as a good deal for producers long-term. It also will provide another marketing tool for co-ops.
He said local elevators would continue to benefit by keeping as much storage as possible on hand. That is why Marion has added 600,000 bushels of storage capacity in the past few years, and Hillsboro will have that much more after the second of two new silos is finished.
Construction of the new terminal has benefited Marion County in other ways.
For example, Emily Jackson of Burns has a job monitoring trucks at the weigh station as they come and go. The facility used 27 tons of rock, all trucked from the Marion quarry.
Many of the workers building the elevator live out of state and have rented places to live in Hillsboro and other surrounding communities.
“A huge amount of money has been spent in this area,” terminal manager Bret Briscoe said.
Agri-Producers, Inc., based at Tampa, is not a member of TMA. Manager Stan Utting said the co-op sells grain according to where it receives the best bid. It will use the new facility if the buyer with the best bid purchases grain through the terminal.