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SE Ohio farmers face elevator shortage after Coshocton loss

 

By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Nearly 900 farmers in southeastern Ohio thought their local grain elevator would always be around – but an explosion in August at the Coshocton Grain Co. has forced them to reroute more than 550 million pounds of corn and soybeans. Some will have to transport their harvest as far as 80 miles.
Coshocton Grain, one of the 15 largest elevators in the state, normally collects about 10 million bushels of corn and soybeans annually from farmers in 22 counties. But after a grain dust explosion destroyed three silos, smaller elevators have been forced to shoulder the load. Coshocton Grain is out of commission until fall 2015.
Amy Porteus, co-owner of Porteus Farms in Coshocton, typically sends her crops five miles up the road, but the elevator’s closure has forced her to deliver (both personally and through contracts) to Coshocton Grain’s Hebron facility, roughly 45 miles away.
Porteus said she is just over halfway through the soybean harvest, and transportation costs have already begun to dig into the farm’s profits. “It’s added time and more money on gas,” she said of the prolonged trip to Hebron. “Corn and soybean prices are down from last year.
“We’re feeling it, and we have our own dryer. The ones who are going to hurt the most are the ones who don’t have a dryer.”
According to those at the Hebron facility, most corn harvested this time of year has roughly 25 percent moisture content. To be sold, corn needs to be dried to about 15 percent, requiring either a commercial dryer or a time-consuming field drying period.
A few weeks ago a fire at a grain drying machine at the Farm Supply Center in Zanesville severely slowed drying operations there just as the corn harvest began. Paul Michel, Farm Supply Center president, said the affected dryer, one of two at the business, will be decommissioned for the next week as he assesses the damage.
Dave Hanby, owner of Hanby Farms in Nashport, is swamped trying to keep up with all the displaced Coshocton Grain customers. “It’s crazy,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of business, and we’re expecting a lot more. I’m just trying to do the best I can to help people out, but we’re maxed out.”
Hanby Farms can hold 1 million bushels of grain – not nearly enough to compensate for the 2.7 million bushels of storage space lost when Coshocton Grain closed its doors. Grain storage has presented a huge problem for smaller elevators such as Farm Supply Center, which is already full up dealing with usual customers.
In most years, Farm Supply handles about 300 farmers, but that number is expected to rise to supplement the loss of Coshocton’s main elevator. As of last week, several farmers who normally sell to Coshocton Grain had brought their soybean harvest to the smaller facility.
Just 15 percent of seasonal corn has been harvested and a little under half of soybeans have been gathered. Most crops are running two or more weeks behind schedule in this area. Corn left in fields is becoming increasingly susceptible to wind damage the longer farmers have to wait to harvest.
According to Michel, the harvest season, which normally concludes sometime around Thanksgiving, could extend into mid-January because farmers are being forced to field-dry their crops to save money while they wait in line for storage space. Dry conditions and high winds produce brittle stalks that can snap off and ruin corn. Elevators in the vicinity of Coshocton are:
•Hanby Farms, 10790 Newark Road, Nashport, 800-686-2215
•Coshocton Grain Co., 129 O Neill Drive, Hebron, 740-928-0941
•Granville Milling, 400 S. Main St., Granville, 740-587-0221
•Farm Supply Center, 411 Linden Ave., Zanesville, 740-453-0341
11/13/2014