At Southwest Grain's Dickinson terminal, Manager Kevin Lien said he's seeing a lot of happy faces.
A line of trucks waited patiently Wednesday afternoon to unload durum as Lien kept an eye on how much more they could handle, unsure if they'd be full by the time the terminal closed at 6 p.m.
"They'll line up out there and then it will slow down a little bit and then some will sneak up again," Lien said. "I think it's the cool weather and the moisture (that's attributing to a good crop)."
Some producers have so much grain they are storing it on the ground until they can either sell it or find someplace to keep it.
Dale Wegh, a producer west of Mott, said while he's got a few piles of grain on the ground, he's not complaining.
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"I think it's a good problem to have. We haven't seen this for many, many years. It's good thing for farmers, it's a boost in the arm," Wegh said. "It comes at a good time, from a bad year to a good year."
Wegh, who has been farming for about 20 years, said he hopes to market the durum on the ground as soon as he can, but is waiting for a better price.
Two big bins were put up before harvest, Wegh said, but he says he never dreamt they'd have to put any on the ground.
"I've never seen yields like this straight across the board," Wegh said. "You'll have a field that would do it, or something like that but never flat across the board like that. You couldn't ask for any better."
Elsewhere, grain elevators across parts of the Great Plains are still crammed with unsold winter wheat as facilities brace for expected bumper fall harvests of corn, sorghum and soybeans.
"This is going to be putting a lot of pressure on storage facilities and the transportation system. Overseas buyers are sitting on their hands seeing these prices continue to fall," said Mike Woolverton, a grain marketing economist at Kansas State University.
The lackluster demand for wheat has clogged the nation's grain-handling pipeline, particularly in major wheat-producing states like Kansas where a good winter wheat crop this summer will be followed by anticipated record harvests of other crops this fall.
"From a physical handling perspective, we are fully expecting grain to be placed on the ground in some areas," said Tom Tunnell, executive director of the Kansas Grain and Feed Association, the industry group for the state's elevators.
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Most of that grain will likely be sorghum, which has the lowest value and is easiest to store on the ground, he said.
Elevator operators will have to decide whether they want to handle the excess crops because spoilage losses are higher for crops stored on the ground -- typically a 3 percent loss as compared to .5 percent for crops stored inside, Tunnel said.
"While it is a challenge, we would rather have too many bushels than not enough bushels," Tunnell said.
Other wheat-growing states north of Kansas are also bracing for the fall bounty.
"I don't know if it is going to be as tight as it is going to be in Kansas," said Pat Ptacek, executive director of the Nebraska Grain and Feed Association.
Nebraska, which has 24 ethanol plants, expanded its storage facilities more than two years ago in anticipation of the ethanol industry gearing up.
Even so, Nebraska facilities expect to see a substantial amount of corn dumped on the ground. And South Dakota elevators are also gearing up for bountiful fall crops by trying to move as much wheat out as possible.
"Everybody will manage it as best as they can," said Kathy Zander, executive director of the South Dakota Grain and Feed Association. "It is a good problem to have."
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Art Ridl, who farms northwest of Dickinson, said in his 20-plus years of farming, this is one of the best crops ever.
"Right now we haven't had to put any on the ground yet," Ridl said.
In addition to more moisture and a cooler summer, Ridl said last year, with a lot of areas not producing much of a crop, he wonders if that didn't contribute to the good crop as well.
Ridl said storage at his farm will more than likely reach capacity in a couple days.
"The elevator's still got room, so we're still hauling in," Ridl said. "We're hoping we don't have to dump any on the ground."
