Harvest

'Tis the Season to Bust the Biggest Christmas Tree Myths

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:33:00 GMT

From popular songs like “ Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree ” to ‘ O Christmas Tree ,’ the Christmas tree is the centerpiece of many Christmas celebrations.

Unlike reports of a Christmas tree shortage, the Real Christmas Tree Board , which is the checkoff for Christmas tree farmers, says growers from across the country have been able to meet the increasing demand.

“They’ve reported a Christmas tree shortage for years. And after several years, we’ve never run out of Christmas trees,” says Marsha Gray, executive director, the Real Christmas Tree Board. “Our supply numbers are actually lower than they were 10 or 20 years ago. So that part is true. But we’ve never not met the demand.”

She says there’s no question demand has skyrocketed, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As more Americans decided to take part in several Christmas traditions, more purchased real Christmas trees.

Weather’s Lack of Impact On This Year’s Tree Supply

The demand front is good news. And on the supply side, Gray says even with the whiplash of weather, those challenges don’t cut into the supply for a given year.

“It’s very rare that a weather event in the existing year impacts the trees we’re trying to sell. What it does impact in most cases are the seedlings, the new plantings,” says Gray.

The main Christmas tree production areas in the U.S. are Oregon, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina. While the drought didn’t cut down on the tree supply for 2022, the extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest threw a curveball for growers this year.

“They were hitting like 118 degrees in June,” says Gray. “It didn’t kill trees. What it did is (affect) all that flush new growth on the ends, that’s where you get all the pretty new branches.”

The Grinch? Skyrocketing Freight Costs

Gray says it takes a minimum of eight years to grow a Christmas tree to a harvestable size. Weather can be a battle for future trees, but it’s the cost of trucking and freight that added to the cost of trees this year. Last year, trucking availability was the problem. This year, overall, the average cost of a Christmas tree was up 10 percent.

“Like all areas of agriculture and for all products, when you’re moving things around, it hinges on fuel prices and availability of trucking,” says Gray. “Some growers do price their trees minus the trucking, so it’s like you make your deal and then the trucking is on you. Others build that in. And, boy, you’re taking a bit of a gamble, but they’ve worked the market a long time.”

Good for the Environment?

Even with the price, Gray says more millennials are embracing tradition. And as more younger families opt for a real Christmas tree versus artificial, Gray says they’re also buying a product that benefits the environment, which can sometimes be a misconception with U.S. tree shoppers.

“The trees themselves, because their farms were replanting, it’s a constant cycle of renewing and sustaining that. And consumers, when they’re done with a tree at the end, it is 100% biodegradable; it’s just going to go back to the earth,” says Gray.

Big Export Business

It’s not just an American-grown product that’s more environmentally friendly compared to buying a plastic tree. Gray says Christmas tree farmers also benefit the U.S. economy. Demand is growing not just at home, but also abroad.

“We export Christmas trees to Dubai and Mexico, to the Middle East,” says Gray. “We export to all kinds of interesting places.”

As Christmas tree growers wind down another season, it’s an American grown product that’s helping make Christmas memories year after year.

John Phipps: Why More Americans Don't Actually Roast Chestnuts On an Open Fire

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:39:38 GMT

One of the most durable of all standard Christmas songs played nonstop during this time of year is “The Christmas Song”. If that unimaginative title doesn’t ring any silver bells, that’s because it is more recognizable by the first line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”. Even for nostalgia buffs, though, the reference to chestnuts, let alone roasted ones, will trigger few remembrances.

Chestnut trees once dominated Eastern forests comprising as much as half the hardwood in those woodlands. As you can see, they grew to enormous size, and chestnut lumber was a prized material for all kinds of applications, but especially large beams and planks for flooring for brans and general construction.

In 1905 a fungus from Japan was inadvertently introduced to America and it literally took these giants down. Today woodworkers pay exorbitant prices for chestnut lumber reclaimed from old barns and other wooden structures. The wood is a buttery yellow with a straight grain that works well and is adaptable to multiple uses.

(Farm Journal)

A tiny number of groves may survive in Minnesota and other remote northern forests, but essentially these wonderful trees are gone. It is safe to say that few have ever eaten true American chestnuts roasted on an open fire.

There are related species resistant to the blight but the none which match the majestic size and beauty of this native hardwood. Arborists and botanists have struggled to develop blight resistant chestnut trees for decades with little success. Until now.

A genuine version of the American chestnut is at hand, but there is one tiny catch that farmers will understand. These blight-resistant trees are genetically modified. So, despite decades of safe and effective use of GM plants, foresters and government scientists are grappling with yet another GM controversy. Complicating the research is the tree lifespan – it’s not a 90-day corn, after all.

This farmer and woodworker thinks it’s a no-brainer to endure what appear to be minimal risks, but that’s been my futile GM opinion for a long time. But maybe in a century of two, not only will these magnificent trees regain their place in American forests and woodshops, but Christmas revelers could be roasting real American chestnuts over an open fire.

And yes, given the way our Christmas repertoire has endured, I’ll bet they will sing the song with the unknown title.

USDA’s March orange production estimate up slightly from February forecast

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:04:50 GMT

The USDA’s March all-orange forecast for the 2022-23 season is 2.62 million tons, up slightly from the previous forecast but down 25% from the 2021-22 final utilization.

The Florida all-orange forecast, at 16.1 million boxes (725,000 tons), is up 1% from the previous forecast but down 61% from last season’s final utilization, the USDA said.

In Florida, early, midseason, and navel varieties are forecast at 6.1 million boxes (275,000 tons), up 2% from the previous forecast but down 67% from last season’s final utilization. The Florida valencia orange forecast, at 10 million boxes (450,000 tons), is unchanged from the previous forecast but down 56% from last season’s final utilization.

The California valencia orange forecast is 8.1 million boxes (324,000 tons), unchanged from the previous forecast but down 6% from the previous season, the USDA said.

The California all-orange forecast of 46.1 million boxes (1.84 million tons) is unchanged from the previous forecast but up 14% from last season’s final utilization.

Southern California Lemon Harvest To Begin

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 19:03:34 GMT

Another round of lemon harvest will begin soon in southern California.

Al Stehly, a grower from Escondido, Calif., is preparing for what he believes is the largest lemon crop he’s ever produced.

Watch the story on AgDay above.

South Dakota Farmers Wait For Wheat to Move

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:25 GMT

The wheat that pours like red gold into the hopper of a combine harvesting a field outside of Pierre could bake the bread that feeds the world--but first it has to get to where millers and bakers can buy it.

And that’s a problem this year. A scale-tipping harvest, a lack of bin space from last year and a shortage of rail cars have some farmers, and some elevators, pouring wheat on the ground because there’s no place to put it, the Pierre Capital Journal reported.

“I’ve been here for five years, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Phillip Pease, Pierre terminal manager for Midwest Cooperatives, a part of CHS.

Midwest Cooperatives grain merchandiser Jeremey Frost agreed, noting that Midwest Cooperatives has been running from 20 to 60 percent of historical winter wheat harvest car placements at its various locations - in other words, receiving about one to three grain cars this year for every five cars it received in previous years. But the wheat harvest this year makes the demand for cars greater, not less.

“If I had to guess, our wheat production in our trade area is probably going to be 120 to 150 percent of normal,” Frost said.

Things took a turn for the better at the end of last week when rainfall slowed down the harvest so that not as much wheat was coming in to the elevators; that allowed the railroad to move some grain out and deliver some cars.

So far in August the Pierre elevator is seeing rail car placement at a faster pace than it saw during the month of July.

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CHS Midwest Cooperatives has grain facilities in Pierre, Onida, Philip and Blunt that are served by rail; and facilities in Kadoka and Draper that are served by truck. It also has an agronomy location in Highmore than doesn’t handle grain. But producers and elevator personnel said grain storage and transportation are issues across the region, not simply in central South Dakota.

Public affairs manager Jamie Crew of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture said the rail car shortage is a statewide issue, and both Gov. Dennis Daugaard and South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Lucas Lentsch are concerned about it and at work on the issue.

Miles Mendel, who farms in the Doland area, was in Pierre on Sunday with his combine, helping to thresh Jim Minder’s wheat. Mendel said the situation is similar farther east.

“The elevators are full there, too,” Mendel said. “They’re pushing you from elevator to elevator. We’re hauling a lot of our wheat 60 miles to Watertown.”

Frost said not just elevators, but farmers, too, are facing storage issues.

“The yields this year are probably the best ever for many of them,” Frost said. “It is a very good crop. The crop up in this area is one of the best winter wheat and spring wheat crops we’ve ever had.”

But, he adds, that creates problems when there isn’t space at local elevators or on the farm.

“One farmer told me he had over 100,000 bushels of grain on the ground by Draper,” Frost said. “It’s kind of a good problem, but it’s also frustrating.”

At the Pierre terminal, where there are three piles of wheat on the ground, some of the grain at the edge of the pile is sprouting.

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Frost said it’s not as simple as saying it’s a rail car shortage. It’s also a bin-busting crop driven in part by rainfall at just the right time, better wheat varieties, better agronomy and highly skilled farmers who have grown better and better at what they do.

Pease agreed, saying winter wheat yields in the Pierre area have been running from 85 to 87 bushels an acre at the high end, and from 60 to 70 bushels an acre at the low end. Protein has been running at about 11.5 to 11.8 percent, or a little less than the 12 percent numbers buyers would like to see, but still respectable.

But Pease noted that with production like that, rail issues could become an even bigger challenge in harvests to come.

Complicating matters is the fact that there’s a new player in the transportation industry in South Dakota. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. bought 670 miles of track through the center of South Dakota and began operating the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad on June 1 of this year. Genesee & Wyoming bought the track--the west end of the former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern--from the Canadian Pacific for about $210 million, plus about $7.5 million for some inventory, equipment and vehicles.

Jerry Vest, senior vice president of government and industry affairs for Genesee & Wyoming, said the line connects with three other railroads--the Canadian Pacific, the Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe--and part of the challenge of moving grain in the height of harvest is scheduling cars to connect with those other systems.

Milt Handcock, general manager for CHS Midwest Cooperatives, said that adds a layer of complexity.

“The Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad is doing all they can considering the restraints that they have to work with, that being a bottle neck with the interchange to the Canadian Pacific in Tracy, Minnesota,” Handcock said.

Vest added that the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad picked an unusually busy year for grain-hauling to start operating.

“It’s been a major challenge with this crop - a significant bumper crop of winter wheat coming in and unfortunately the elevators are not emptied out from the previous harvest.”

Vest said the transportation issue comes down to three variables: the number of cars, the number of locomotives, and the number of crews.

“We have increased all three of those areas since our start-up beyond our original plans,” Vest said.

Vest said that Genesee & Wyoming has a history of buying short-line and regional railroads to operate them and make them better, and will follow that same strategy in South Dakota. The Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern will be working closely with its customers, and getting through this busy harvest is the first step, he said.

“They want to move the wheat and we understand that,” he said. “We want to move the wheat, too. We’re in it for the long haul.”

Too Much Corn With Nowhere to Go as U.S. Farmers Plan for Record

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:25 GMT

The ripening corn and soybean fields stretch for miles in every direction from Dennis Wentworth’s farm in Downs, Illinois. As he marveled at his best-yielding crops ever, he wondered aloud where the heck he’ll put it all.

“Logistics are going to be a huge problem for everyone,” the 62-year-old grower said, adding that he has invested in boosting output rather than grain bins. When harvesting starts in a few weeks, Wentworth expects his 150-year-old family farm to produce 10 percent more than last year’s record. “There are going to be some big piles of grain on the ground this fall.”

From Ohio to Nebraska, thousands of field inspections this week during the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour show production of corn could be 1 percent more than the government’s estimate and soybeans 1.2 percent higher, according to a Bloomberg survey of crop scouts. Months of timely rains and mild weather created ideal growing conditions, leaving ears with more kernels than normal on 10-foot (3-meter) corn stalks and more seed pods on dark, green soy plants.

Prospects of bumper harvests sent Chicago futures tumbling into bear markets last month, two years after a drought eroded output and sparked the highest prices ever. Cheaper grain is bolstering profit for buyers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., encouraging some cattle producers in the Great Plains to expand herds, and eroding income for farmers who say increased output will make up for some of the slump.

Bigger Yields

Corn on the Chicago Board of Trade has tumbled 21 percent since the end of May to $3.69 a bushel yesterday, and soybeans are down 30 percent to $10.3825 a bushel. The Bloomberg Commodity Index slid 6.2 percent over the same period, while the MSCI All-Country World Index of equities rose 2 percent. The Bloomberg Treasury Index gained 0.5 percent.

Samples in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa -- representing 45 percent of forecast U.S. corn output and 41 percent of soybeans -- showed bigger yields than last year, according to inspections on the 22nd annual Pro Farmer crop tour, which ended yesterday. Corn production will be 14.178 billion bushels, compared with 14.032 billion bushels estimated by USDA, according to a survey of 13 grain company and hedge fund analysts on the tour. Soybean output was forecast at 3.861 billion, versus the government estimate of 3.816 billion.

The volunteer scouts on the four-day crop tour drove more than 15,000 miles across seven Midwest states, the biggest growing region, taking random samples by counting the number of kernels on corn ears and pods on soybean plants. Editors of the Pro Farmer newsletter will issue final estimates of U.S. output today, partly based on this week’s measurements.

Ideal Weather

In Illinois, where the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted this month that yields will be 188 bushels an acre on average, the tour estimated 197 bushels an acre, up 16 percent from the same areas surveyed last year. In Iowa, preliminary samples showed 1,107 soybean pods per 3 square feet, up 18 percent from last year.

The outlook has improved after months of ideal weather. Through Aug. 16, the majority of the Midwest was slightly dry to abnormally moist, according to a weekly Crop Moisture Index from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Temperatures that have been cooler than normal will remain average or below average through the end of August, the agency forecasts.

The government on Aug. 12 predicted record crops and a drop in exports that will boost reserves. Corn production will rise 0.8 percent from last year’s record to 14.03 billion bushels, and soybean output will jump 16 percent to 3.82 billion bushels, the government said.

Cutting Bets

Prices have plunged to the lowest since 2010, with soybean futures in Chicago dropping to $10.35 on Aug. 20 and corn slipping to $3.58 on Aug. 12. Money managers have cut their bets on a corn rally by 75 percent since early April, and they have had a net-short holding in soybeans for five straight weeks, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.

Surging crop supplies may exacerbate the squeeze on grain storage and shipping. BNSF Railway Co., owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. struggled with “greater-than normal” demand from shippers of coal, oil and Midwest crops, the USDA said this month in a report.

Combined with inventories left from the 2013 harvest, production of all grains and oilseeds will boost 2014 supply to 26.97 billion bushels, USDA data show. That’s more than the 23.4 billion of storage on farms and grain-company silos as of Dec. 1, the government estimated in a Jan. 10 report.

Roads, Trains

“I don’t know where it will all go this year,” said Richard Guse, a 54-year-old farmer from Waseca, Minnesota, who owns a 1 million-bushel grain elevator that he expanded in the past year by 275,000 bushels. “We need better roads and faster train shipping to keep the grain moving,” Guse said this week while inspecting fields as part of the Pro Farmer crop tour.

With the main harvest still weeks away, there is still time for crops to be damaged by weather, including an early frost. Parts of eastern and northwestern Iowa, the largest corn-growing areas, had less rain than normal over the past two weeks, QT Weather said in a report yesterday.

Not everyone is seeing better yields. Parts of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota had samplings that were less than last year. Ron Lampe’s 2,100 acres in Cumminstown, Iowa, were flooded by 20 inches of rain in late June, forcing him to replant more than 10 percent of his corn fields and damaging some of those that survived.

More Rain

Prices already may reflect expectations for a national corn yield of 170 bushels an acre, which would be more than the 167.4 bushels estimated by the USDA earlier this month, said Christopher Narayanan, an analyst at Societe Generale SA in New York who participated in the crop tour.

“I haven’t seen anything or heard anything that might suggest it would be higher,” Narayanan said in an interview yesterday.

For now, there are few risks seen and many farmers are expecting bigger harvests.

More rain is expected through the weekend across the northwestern and eastern Midwest, increasing soil moisture to boost the final stages of soybean growth, Donald Keeney, a meteorologist at MDA Weather Services in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said in an Aug. 20 report. There are no risks yet of frost, Commodity Weather Group said. The weather service yesterday predicted national corn yields will reach 171.5 bushels an acre, 1 percent above a prior estimate.

Best Crop Ever

Wentworth, the Illinois grower, said that instead of adding extra grain bins he is relying on forward-contracting to sell his anticipated avalanche of grain to six grain companies including Cargill Inc. and Andersons Inc. It will take about 538 semi-truck loads, each capable of hauling 80,000 pounds of corn and soybeans, to get his anticipated harvest to buyers. He’s been working to lease trucks and hire temporary drivers to help his two part-time employees keep his grain moving.

Cory Ritter, who farms about 2,000 acres with his father near Blue Mound, Illinois, said they planted more corn this year and expects to harvest 250 bushels an acre, at least 15 percent more than he originally anticipated. Some fields may get as much as 280 bushels, with some plants sprouting second ears and kernels heavier and larger than last year, he said.

“My corn has not been under any weather stress for one day,” said Ritter, 33. “The seed popped out of the ground in four days and started growing right away. Cool temperatures helped during pollination, producing big ears, and rains have come at the perfect time all season. It’s my best crop ever.”

Aging Rural Bridges Key to Transporting Big Soybean Harvest

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:30 GMT

A no-frills concrete bridge on the edge of Stockland, Illinois, represents just the kind of headache the nation’s soybean farmers hope a multimillion-dollar campaign and a little creative thinking will cure.

The 50-feet concrete span and hundreds like it in soybean-growing states can’t handle the weight of fully loaded grain trucks that’ll be bringing an expected record harvest to grain elevators this fall. That means those who use the often small, obscure bridges will have to make more trips and spend more money.

Hauling soybeans to Stockland Grain Co. from the west means crossing the Stockland bridge. It’s restricted to 29 tons or 58,000 pounds; a fully loaded grain trucks weighs 80,000 pounds.

“Basically, it’s probably doubling the freight (cost),” Stockland Grain owner Sonny Metzinger said from his business about 100 miles south of Chicago.

Since farmers’ profits are dropping this year alongside crop prices, bridge-infrastructure needs have come into sharper focus. Most soybeans wind up on a rail car or barge to reach their ultimate destination, but just about all of them leave the farm in trucks that roll over small bridges.

“This matters a lot all of the sudden,” said Scott Irwin, a professor of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois.

Soybeans are one of the country’s largest and most valuable crops—$41.8 billion in 2013—and are grown in about 30 states for animal feed, food additives and other uses. That money is of particular importance in rural counties in states such as Iowa and Illinois, the two largest producers. But those counties have small, often dwindling populations and the bridges are lightly used outside of hauling crops to market, which makes them a tough sell to state and local policymakers.

BNSF Rebuffs Some Tank Cars to Ease Rail Traffic Jam

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:13 GMT

BNSF Railway Co., the carrier owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is blocking some shippers from adding tank cars to its system in a bid to prevent a worsening of the gridlock that sparked regulators’ ire.

BNSF, which has come under scrutiny this year from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board over late grain deliveries, has told some oil shippers its network can’t accommodate more tank cars, said Mike Trevino, a company spokesman. In June, BNSF and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. were ordered by the board to report plans for resolving the service disruptions.

While BNSF has said it’s spending $5 billion this year to add workers, rail cars and expand track, Berkshire acknowledged in a filing last week that the railroad’s service is still “well below” its standards. Compounding the problem is the prospect of a record soybean and corn crop in the U.S., which will put additional pressure on railroads.

The railroad’s shipments of petroleum products have jumped 14 percent this year, outpacing a gain in total traffic of 1.7 percent and a 0.4 percent rise in grain cargo, according the Association of American Railroads’ weekly data. That has caused complaints from gain and coal shippers that BNSF is favoring crude over their shipments.

BNSF’s profit climbed in the third quarter as revenue from agricultural and industrial shipments, including oil, rose. The business accounted for 22 percent of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire’s net income in the period, according to a Nov. 7 regulatory filing.

Trevino said there is no systemwide moratorium on taking additional tank cars and those requests are decided on a “situational evaluation” as part of managing the traffic flow.

Oil Production

The railroad’s tracks sit on top of North Dakota’s Bakken formation, where energy producers are using hydraulic fracturing and other extraction methods to pull crude from the ground in unprecedented volumes. Because pipeline capacity is limited in the area, oil companies have turned to BNSF to ship their product to refineries.

BNSF has worked to allay concerns about the safety of oil shipments by agreeing to buy 5,000 new crude tank cars with thicker steel than the models known as CPC-1232. It has also announced plans to apply a surcharge on an older generation of cars that have been involved in some of the worst accidents.

Reuters reported BNSF’s decision earlier.

Officials Ask Federal Board to Help on Rail Delays

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:25 GMT

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple opened a federal hearing in Fargo about rail service delays in the upper Plains by reading a letter from a grain elevator that said Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. was 525 cars behind in its service.

The Wilton Farmers Union Elevator also told the governor that as of last month it was still waiting for a train that had been scheduled to arrive on April 8.

That backlog has caused what Dalrymple told the National Surface Transportation Board on Thursday was an “emergency situation” — acres of corn, soybeans and wheat are at record levels in the Dakotas and Minnesota, but there’s no place to move it. In North Dakota alone, more than 15 percent of the 2013 grain is still in storage, although that number is more like 90 percent at the Wilton elevator.

“I would seriously ask you to consider this an emergency situation,” Dalrymple told the three-member panel that oversees railroad service issues. He was among dozens of officials from the Dakotas and Minnesota who testified.

Farmers and some politicians believe that increased crude oil and freight shipments from North Dakota’s western oil fields are largely the cause of shipping delays. Railroads, however, have denied that they favor one sector over another.

Farmers Union Elevator manager Brian Guderjahn told The Associated Press after the meeting that the April 8 cars mentioned in the letter had arrived. But now they’re waiting on the April 22 train.

“We order these cars in January for April placement. They come in September. How is a company or a general manager supposed to market grain?” Guderjahn asked. “We can’t even start to guess or estimate when we can deliver grain to these people.”

Representatives from three rail companies testified Thursday, but the focus was on Canadian Pacific and what North Dakota lawmakers say is the company’s failure to provide details on improving the problem. North Dakota Sens. John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp said after their testimony that BNSF Railway has outlined steps in the right direction, but Canadian Pacific has not.

“Unlike Burlington Northern, I think CP thinks this is cyclical. That this is temporary,” Heitkamp said. “We can’t seem to nail down what their investment plans are in North Dakota.”

Canadian Pacific spokesman John Brooks said that the company began plans on a new car-ordering system 10 months ago and has been working with customers in the last couple of months on “an orderly transition.” He acknowledged there’s “still a lot of work to do” to fill smaller orders, such as the Wilton elevator.

Brooks, who faced more questions from the panel than any of the speakers, also said in his presentation that Canadian Pacific invested more than $700 million in the last five years to expand capacity in the upper Plains states and plans to spend more than $500 million in the next two years. He told the board the railway plans to add 400 additional employees and offer housing and other incentives to get employees to job-rich North Dakota.

Guderjahn, the elevator manager, said he has yet to hear from Canadian Pacific.

“It’s depressing,” he said. “We go into harvest in a position where the elevators are pretty much full of old crop grain.”

Dalrymple cited a North Dakota State University study that shows railway shipping delays have resulted in at least $67 million in lost farm income on crops sold between January and April. The study, completed before the current harvest, found the potential for an additional $95.4 million in lost income from the sale of on-farm grain stocks.

Dalrymple said the board can provide an oversight role to ensure a balance between the agriculture and energy sectors and the larger and smaller shipments. The board also has the ability to arrange additional equipment and service, he said.

“This hearing is not about commodity groups and public officials coming in and telling you something,” Dalrymple told the board. “It is about individual elevators and farmers out there who have no place to go. They have no recourse. They have no power. They have no influence over the situation, except for you.”

Midwestern Senators Hammer Railroads at Hearing

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:25 GMT

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says farmers have been “tremendously patient” about rail delays, “but that patience is wearing thin.”

The North Dakota senator came to Wednesday’s hearing about the Midwest’s rail crisis armed with farmers’ stories and a healthy dose of righteous anger. “This isn’t about just who gets preference [on the tracks] and who’s getting their feelings hurt,” Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) told the Senate Commerce Committee. “This is about the very real economic consequences about what is happening in farm country.”

Heitkamp and others spoke during a 2.5-hour Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the state of the country’s freight rail service. Farmers and other shippers have been plagued by railroad delays, thanks to last year’s harsh winter and the ever-increasing amount of oil coming from North Dakota’s oil patch. As crop experts suggest the U.S. will harvest bumper crops of corn and soybeans this year, farmers and others in the agricultural community have only grown more worried about the unreliable and expensive transportation situation.

“Time is a critical factor, because we are in harvest right now,” Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) reminded the committee.

After Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West. Va.) illustrated the impact of rail shipment delays with a photo of wheat piled on the ground, Heitkamp pointed out that not all crops are so tolerant of indefinite storage. “We’re looking at wheat here, but soybeans denigrate very quickly and we’ve got to get them to market. So as dire as that photo is [and] as dire as that pile of wheat is, if those were soybeans, basically what you’ve done is condemned that crop.”

Many farmers are already bracing for financial hits. “I talked to a Minnesota farmer yesterday who told me that his basis adjustment on his corn brings him down to $2.25" per bushel, which is significantly below his $4 per bushel cost of production, Heitkamp said. “At least $1 of that is transportation.”

She told of another conversation with a small group of farmers and agricultural shippers. The six told her “they collectively had a half-million dollar loss to their bottom line because they have not been able to move crops” in a timely way.

It could be far worse. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) highlighted a University of Minnesota study that suggested her state’s farmers had lost millions between March and May of this year due to rail delays . How many millions? $72 million for corn farmers, $18.8 million for soybean producers, and $8.5 million for wheat growers.

That’s just Minnesota. “Our producers have been tremendously patient about what they are willing to understand, given the tremendous infrastructure demands in North Dakota, but that patience is wearing thin,” Heitkamp warned.

From the contentious tone of the hearing, it seems that farmers’ senators might be feeling the same way. After Ed Hamberger, the president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, said that rail companies had invested $26 billion last year on railroad improvements, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) publicly questioned his numbers. “I don’t believe your investment figures are sincere figures,” she said. “You are making a ton of money, and what is happening is people are losing their jobs and their products can’t get to market.”

Minnesota Farmers, Propane Suppliers Prepare For Winter

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:18 GMT

Minnesota officials and propane suppliers say they’re better prepared to avoid repeating the shortages that hit much of the Midwest last winter.

Propane supply and demand are always at the whims of weather, but last year’s one-two punch of a wet fall harvest that used up more fuel and a brutally cold winter created one of the worst shortages in recent memory.

With another cold winter approaching, Gov. Mark Dayton said he’s confident the state has taken steps to ensure Minnesota residents have access to propane. Several propane storage facilities in the region have increased capacity, and more farmers and homeowners have filled up their fuel supplies early.

“We’re in as good of shape as we could be today,” Dayton said after meeting with industry officials Tuesday.

But the state’s efforts to ensure adequate fuel supplies could be hindered by a key pipeline that’s no longer shipping propane into Minnesota. The Cochin pipeline, which once supplied about 40 percent of Minnesota’s propane, was switched over in the spring to move petroleum products into Canada.

Dayton said filling that gap is one of his top concerns. To help, the state will lean on railroads, which Dayton has pressed to address months of backlogs that have hit farmers with delays.

“There’s no question the rail transport system in this state is very seriously overextended,” the governor said. “We’re going to be on them very rigorously to find out what their situation is, to monitor what they’re doing.”

Dayton said the state will continue meeting with industry officials and monitoring propane supplies as winter approaches.

The late start to last year’s planting season pushed harvest back into a wet fall, requiring more of the fuel to dry out corn and other grains. The cold winter drove up propane demand to heat more than 200,000 Minnesotans’ homes, raising prices and making supply scarce.

A wet spring pushed back planting this year too, Minnesota Corn Growers Association spokesman Adam Czech said. Despite the late start, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is projecting a record corn crop in Minnesota — a crop that may need plenty of propane for drying. Farmers can use more than 1,000 gallons of propane daily to dry their crop.

The association started warning farmers in June to stock up on propane.

The issues “are just kind of piling on top of each other, and it adds up to propane issues,” Czech said.

Minnesota Governor Asks Feds to Intervene in Grain Delays

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:18 GMT

Gov. Mark Dayton is urging the federal government to step in on railroad delays hitting Minnesota grain farmers.

A growing backlog of railroad shipments cost corn, wheat and soybean farmers $109 million in lower prices this spring, according to a University of Minnesota study. With harvest approaching, Dayton on Wednesday asked the Surface Transportation Board, a major federal railroad regulator, to press freight railroads to address the issue.

Dayton says recent plans to tackle delays released by BNSF Railway, Minnesota’s largest freight carrier, don’t have enough information to soothe the state’s concerns.

Farmers and some politicians have blamed railroad companies for prioritizing oil shipments from North Dakota over agricultural products, while railroads say the brutally long winter has caused issues.

Missouri Allows Temporary Change in Grain Hauling Rules

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:13 GMT

The state of Missouri is allowing temporary changes in grain hauling regulations to help farmers get their crops to market.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says private and for-hire motor carriers will be able to haul corn, soybeans and other grains at heavier than normal weights. The change takes effect immediately and lasts through midnight, Dec. 14.

KYTV reports farmers are struggling to harvest their crops because of recent heavy rains. The changes will allow haulers to carry up to 10 percent more than their licensed weight. The heavier loads will not be allowed on interstates.

The state also will not require overweight permits for the slightly overweight loads.

North Dakota Officials Want More Details on Backlogged Grain Shipments

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:30 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s congressional delegation is pressing Canadian Pacific Railway to provide details of its backlog of grain shipments, saying farmers need detailed information with fall harvest fast approaching. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board told Canadian Pacific and BNSF Railway in June to submit plans to address backlogs in northern Plains states and begin filing weekly updates. But Sen John Hoeven, R-N.D., Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Canadian Pacific’s weekly report does not include a specific number of past-due rail cars or average lateness, leaving farmers in the dark. “Canadian Pacific has not indicated any meaningful reductions in their backlog since these reports began,” Cramer said in a statement. Grain bins across the state are full and harvests from prior years are being stored on the ground while awaiting rail cars. Heitkamp, in a letter to the railroad’s chief executive, Hunter Harrison, said detailed information on grain shipments “will provide Canadian Pacific the opportunity to restore weakened confidence among its customers in my state.” Canadian Pacific spokesman Ed Greenberg said Tuesday that the railroad will provide detailed information on past-due rail shipments to the North Dakota lawmakers “as quickly as possible.” “We take their concerns very seriously,” Greenberg said. North Dakota is Canadian Pacific’s biggest customer for farm commodity shipments but the railroad also moves grain in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Missouri, Greenberg said. The railroad has been moving more than 2,000 grain cars weekly in the states since June, Greenberg said. He did not immediately know the number of delayed rail cars. Many farmers and some North Dakota officials believe the increased crude oil and freight shipments from the state’s booming oil patch are largely the cause of shipping delays, which have created big backlogs at grain elevators and added costs for agriculture shippers. But BNSF and Canadian Pacific have said that brutal winter weather and bottlenecks in Chicago are to blame. The lack of railcars has delayed shipping of agricultural products by as much as 40 days in recent months though Sen. Hoeven said BNSF, the biggest grain shipper in North Dakota, at least appears to be making progress. “The first priority is for the railroads to get caught up,” Hoeven said. BNSF reported 3,908 past due rail cars in North Dakota averaging 26 days late in its latest report to federal officials. That’s down about 14 percent from the previous week. BNSF said North Dakota had the most past-due rail cars followed by Montana, South Dakota and Minnesota. The railroad said in its report only two of the 19 states it serves have no past-due rail cars. Hoeven said BNSF accounts for two-thirds of the grain shipments in North Dakota, while Canadian Pacific has the remaining third of the business. Hoeven said the North Dakota delegation have invited officials from both railroads to come to Bismarck next month to personally update farm groups on the status of grain shipments. “We want to find out exactly where they’re at and their plan for harvest,” Hoeven said. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

South Dakota Farmers Find Shortage of Grain Storage

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:30 GMT

ABERDEEN, S.D.--Rail congestion and large bounties of crops have some worried about grain storage space as South Dakota’s harvest gets underway.

Rail cars are in short supply in the northern Plains, and many officials and farmers blame that on increased crude oil and freight shipments from North Dakota’s booming oil patch. That means the bins at many grain elevators already are full, and there isn’t space to hold this year’s large crop.

“Typically, we wouldn’t go to ground storage until two to three weeks into harvest,” Jeremey Frost, grain merchandiser for CHS Midwest Cooperative in Pierre, told the American News . “Now, two to three days into winter wheat, we’re putting wheat on the ground.”

This year’s large crop after a good growing season isn’t helping matters, he said.

“Those who have brought in wheat are seeing yields well above averages at 50, 60, 70 or even over 80 bushels per acre,” he said. “We’ve not heard of anything less than 55. We’re used to seeing 40-bushel wheat.”

One thing in the elevators’ favor is that low market prices mean many farmers aren’t anxious to sell. Some like Slade Roseland, of Seneca, plan to store grain in large bags in the field until they’re ready to sell.

“We use the grain bags quite a bit, whenever we have storage issues,” he said. “It’s 24 miles from our farm to the elevator, so we bag crops in field and haul it in later. It’s a very efficient process.”

However, once farmers do decide to sell this year’s grain and whatever they have stored from last year, it could spell trouble.

“One of the big concerns, going into fall harvest, is all of the grain that is still on the farm,” said Tom Bright, grain marketing specialist for South Dakota Wheat Growers. “We know customers don’t like the prices, but we don’t know what (grain from last year) will be coming to us.

“There is the possibility of a double hit — the push of old crop in August and September followed by a big harvest.”

Nebraska Corn Board Urges Drivers to Take Extra Caution During Harvest

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:18 GMT

Nebraska drivers and farmers are being reminded to be careful during harvest because large equipment and trucks will be entering and leaving fields.

Tim Scheer is chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. He says farmers will be working long hours to harvest their crops, and that can contribute to errors.

But other drivers also need to be careful, especially in rural areas where traffic will be heavier than usual. And drivers should watch out for slow-moving agricultural equipment.

Tall crops in the fields may also make it hard to see traffic at some intersections.

Large Harvest Creates Issues For Minnesota Farmers

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:18 GMT

Minnesota farmers will face several challenges in shipping and storing what’s expected to be the state’s second largest corn crop in history.

The state’s fall harvest will amount to nearly 1.4 million bushels, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. But the massive corn crop is pressuring grain prices, so farmers may opt to store their grain instead of sell it. Farmers may run out of places to store the grain and be forced to pile it on the ground, according to Bob Zelenka, head of the Minnesota Grain and Feed Association.

“I think we’re going to see some ground storage this year, because of the lack of interest by producers in moving grain into the market,” he said Tuesday.

Agricultural experts are continuing to monitor potential problems with transporting crops since many railroads are already backed up with the shipment of oil, coal, taconite and other commodities. The watchful eyes were driven by harvest troubles last year, but the same problems aren’t expected to occur again this fall.

“It appears to be more manageable than last year, because we’re all aware of the situation,” Zelenka said.

Shipping concerns are also fueled by the fact the North Dakota has become a big producer of corn and soybeans, on top of wheat, meaning there is more grain to transport.

“This is the first time we’ve had a corn and soybean (shipping) problem in North Dakota,” said Jerry Fruin, a specialist in transportation economics at the University of Minnesota. “We used to talk about wheat, but that (harvest) happened in August when the weather was better.”

Pressure is also added to the busiest parts of the railroad network by the demand for U.S. grain in Asia. Minnesota farmers can choose to transport crops via different methods, but barges have been unreliable and fuel prices have increased, according to Fruin.

Leftover grain from the 2013 harvest also contributed to the 60 percent increase for this year’s harvest. There are 162 million bushels of Minnesota’s 2013 corn as of Sept. 1, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Trouble Shipping Grain And Feed Via Rail Far From Over, Concerns Now Growing About Possible Worker Strike At Harvest

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:00:15 GMT

Rail retains a vital role in the transportation of goods across the U.S., but this year, the 140,000- miles worth of railroad tracks across the country haven’t been immune to the supply chain chaos plaguing U.S. transportation sectors.

Now, a potential stoppage on the nation’s railways this fall is spurring concern, even after President Joe Biden signed an executive order Sunday to keep the nation’s rail traffic on track.

“What I’m hearing from our members is fewer equipment issues,” says Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of the National Feed and Grain Association (NFGA) . “The equipment and engines don’t seem to be breaking down, but the amount of time it’s taken to get the trains and the reliability of receiving them have.”

With more than 1,000 members today, NFGA represents everything from grain buyers and handlers to transportation companies who ship the grain.

“It seems to be most severe right now in the West, or for those who are trying to ship west on those lines that are going into the western part of the country,” says Seyfert. “Either for feed purposes, processing purposes, or export purposes to the western side.”

What’s Driving the Issues Shipping Via Rail?

Today’s rail issue centers around labor and the amount of time it’s taking to receive shipments via rail.

“The velocity to deliver trains is getting more and more difficult. You’re having challenges with having enough locomotives in different locations,” says Ken Erikson, senior vice president at S&P Global Fuels, Chemicals and Resource Solutions Group . “You have challenges with crews who may have been hit by weather, who may be hit by diversions, some of the rail crews timeout or they don’t have enough locomotive engineers in the right position.”

Eric Wilkey of Arizona Grain, Inc . is seeing the issue firsthand. Area farmers were in the middle of harvest, and Wilkey still hadn’t received the rail cars he needed.

“We’ve got a whole harvest that’s basically been received, and we haven’t been able to ship anything,” Wilkey told U.S. Farm Report at the end of June.

Wilkey says rail cars that were supposed to arrive in early May started to finally trickle in during the first part of July, but that was two months behind schedule.

“We never stopped the farmers from harvesting, so we have created some really large inventories and that has significant cash-flow impacts on us,” adds Wilkey.

Hearing Hints at Complexity of Issue

In April, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) stepped in, holding a hearing to get to the root of the rail issues. The hearing was full of differing opinions and pointed questions.

Just prior to the hearing, Landus Coop, which represents 7,000 farmer-owners in Iowa, submitted testimony saying rail issues meant they were only able to load half the number of shipments necessary, and the backlog meant farmers trying to haul grain to the coop were being turned away. The letter stated:

Landus is only able to load half the rate of shipments necessary today. With 450,000 bushels loaded in each train, this impact multiplies daily.
Farmers trying to haul grain to us today are getting turned away because we cannot make the inventory space for them. This is an important and optimal window of time when farmers must haul remaining old-crop inventory in preparation for harvest.
Disruption to inventory flow has led to increased handling costs and reduced customer service throughout Landus. We are experiencing lost business daily due to the disruption.
Grain bushels are getting “trapped” in pockets of surplus supply, while shipping destinations are experiencing a growing deficit in access to supply.
Our soy processing facility has experienced a 10% decrease in production over the past six months due to rail performance alone. This is in turn further impacting profitability and our ability to access markets where soybean meal is in highest demand.
Trucking is not a viable alternative transportation mode today due to labor shortages.

The letter went on to say “If this situation is not resolved quickly, we risk the potential for livestock producers in California and other states potentially running out of feed.”

Concerns About Labor Issues Growing Worse at Harvest

Rail carriers and unions are in the middle of labor negotiations right now. The collective bargaining process made headlines last week, as Biden had until Sunday, July 17, to create a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). The move was an essential step in keeping the collective bargaining process on track, as well as keeping the nation’s railways operating.

“We are pleased that President Biden has taken an important step by creating a PEB to help all parties find a reasonable path forward,” says Association of American Railroads (AAR) president and CEO Ian Jefferies. “An agreement that allows both our hardworking employees and the industry to thrive into the future remains possible.”

AAR points out the Railway Labor Act governs collective bargaining for the rail industry, which aims to help parties reach an agreement without work stoppages or disruptions to U.S. freight rail movements.

While a crisis was averted with the president’s executive order, the collective bargaining process is far from over. Now, there are fresh concerns the ongoing labor dispute could come to a head just as harvest arrives in the Midwest this fall.

“Once we get into mid-September, there’s also a risk of some labor issues, even labor stoppage on some of the rail lines,” says Seyfert. “And so getting these things addressed now, and all of us working together before we get particularly into that fall harvest timeframe is essential. We’ve really never been in a situation where a reliable and resilient rail service is more important than it is now.”

Tense Labor Negotiations?

The April hearing in front of the STB gave a hint to just how tense those labor negotiations could continue to be. Rail carriers pointed out just how severely impacted they’ve been from what’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation,” and the issues getting labor back up to speed. Certain rail carriers also outlined the plans in place to get labor back to necessary levels to operate efficiently and smoothly.

However, rail workers place blame on the railroads, saying there’s more to the story. Mark Wallace, locomotive engineer, and vice president of Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), which is North America’s oldest rail labor union, testified during the STB hearing in April.

“Since 1984, 40 railroads have been reduced to seven class one carriers, now largely controlled by speculators and hedge fund investors,” he stated. “This culture of profits over safety, customer service and the lives of railroad workers is now exposed as this industry is network fails on a daily basis.”

“Now, they signaled to us in meetings publicly and otherwise they are having some success in hiring again and getting crews successfully through training,” says Wilkey. “For the Midwest, there’s a little bit of time, but for us, there’s no time. We’re in harvest right now. And I don’t have time to wait another three months for crews to be trained.”

It’s not just the hearing that hinted toward prolonged trouble with train transportation. Grain handlers like Wilkey says current rail bids point to problems persisting into fall.

“These car values would be somewhere north of $1,000 per car this fall,” says Wilkey. “And so that’s the market sending signals that there’s going to be tightness, there’s going to be concerns.”

Typically, Wilkey says those bids would be around $100 per car.

Congress Urges STB to Take Action

In late June, 51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter and sent to the STB regarding issues with the rail system in the U.S.. The letter asked STB to continue to work through the current rail issues with all stakeholders in order to address short-term challenges and find a resolution.

“On behalf of our constituents and farmers around the country, we write regarding poor rail service, which has limited fertilizer shipments, among other essential agricultural inputs and commodities, including grain and feed,” the letter stated.

“At a time when global fertilizer supplies and global crop production are highly disrupted, imposing shipping curtailments on fertilizer inputs and grain, as recently proposed by Union Pacific, will cause major supply chain disruptions, hurt American farmers, and exacerbate the food crisis considerably. We must ensure critical commodities reach essential industries and workers, such as America’s farmers, who are essential to feeding our nation and the world. Food is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,” the 51 members wrote in the letter.

The Senate sent a similar letter to the STB in May.

Wait Times Cause Economic Pain

As the labor battle plays out, the short-term issues are causing grain handlers economic pain.

“There have been significant economic impacts,” says Wikley. “I would estimate since the first of the year, today, there’s been in the order of $100 million paid out by the industry to solve this logistics problem that’s developed. And that’s just outside of the bounds of normal.”

The battle over labor seems to have a long tail, as those in the grain industry try to work together to make sure this major shipping vein doesn’t buckle.

The El Niño Effect: Is El Niño to Blame for the Historic Heat and Drought that Gripped the U.S. in 2023?

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 22:10:01 GMT

2023 was a year full of weather impacts on crops and livestock. From the intense heat in the South to the drought that parked itself across the South and Midwest, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says those are the two weather events that stole headlines this past year.

“When we look back at 2023, I’m actually going to break heat and drought into two separate categories,” says Rippey. “Really, when you look at the extreme heat this past year, it was focused across the deep South from Arizona to Florida, and pretty much everywhere in between. And that was certainly a huge weather story that affected parts of the cotton belt.”

From wiping out a large part of the cotton crop in west Texas to hitting sugar cane production in Louisiana, Rippey says nearly the entire deep South saw impacts of the year’s extreme heat.

“Of course, that came with drought in many cases. But when you look at these overall temperatures, the hottest summer on record and a lot of hottest months on record, that was a big story in the deep South,” says Rippey.

While other parts of the U.S. still had drought, in some areas it didn’t pack as big of a punch because it came without the heat. That was the case in much of the Corn Belt. The drought hit last year without the extended intense heat, which had a big impact on crops.

“We were very fortunate, especially in the Corn Belt, that we did not see the combination of extreme heat and drought at the same time. And that actually led to some of those better outcomes than expected for U.S. corn,” explains Rippey.

With USDA currently projecting the 2023 U.S. corn crop to be the largest on record, Rippey says the mild temperatures are what helped save the crops.

“You do see that things actually turned out better in states like Iowa. When you look at the rainfall numbers, they were abysmal, almost as dry as 2012. But then the heat just wasn’t there. And today’s varieties are little bit more tolerant of drought and heat. And the outcome was a little better than we expected,” says Rippey.

It wasn’t all good news. While crop yields turned out better than expected for some farmers, the lack of moisture continued to dwindle grazing conditions and hay stocks in 2023. Those created additional hurdles in rebuilding the shrinking U.S. cattle herd.

So, what was the culprit that caused the intense heat that suffocated the South during the summer months? Rippey says while it’s still being studied, he thinks it’s tied to one major weather event in 2023, in particular.

“I will go out on a limb and say that that may have been an early sneak attack from El Niño ,” says Rippey. “The reason I say that is that because we did have an early onset El Niño. It was pretty much in place by late spring, early summer. It’s pretty consistent with El Niño to have a big ridge of high pressure that comes out of Central America. And at times, we’ve seen it before, that does sometimes extend all the way into the southern tier of the United States.”

He says El Niño can also be tied to the shipping crisis that wreaked havoc on exports in 2023, causing massive shipping delays, as well as forcing shippers to carry lighter loads.

“And certainly what happened in Mexico and parts of Central America, think about the Central American drought that’s causing shipping problems in the Panama Canal. A lot of that, I think, could be tied to the heat in the atmosphere related to the early onset El Niño,” says Rippey.

According to Rippey, the drought in the Midwest can be attributed to the blocking high pressure that wouldn’t budge across Canada this past spring, summer or fall.

“The U.S. Midwest happened to be on the southern end of a lot of that high pressure over Canada. So when we think about that, think about the Canadian wildfires, all the smoke coming down. And we were just on the southern edge of that in the Midwest,” Rippey explains.

He says that, along with Northeasterly winds blocking moisture from the Gulf, is what caused the drought in the Midwest.

“At the same time, high pressure was far enough north that the heat and unusual warmth were actually focused across Canada. So, it wasn’t all that hot on the southern end of the high, but it was dry. And that led to that cool drought in the western Corn Belt,” he adds.

El Niño is still in play, as Rippey says El Niño made a splash once again to close out 2023.

“Now that El Niño has kicked in, it’s a strong event, it could be one of the strongest on record,” says Rippey. “We’re seeing that influence of El Niño starting to grab a hold of the reins of U.S. weather patterns. And that’s pretty normal and certainly should continue into early 2024.”

What’s on tap for 2024? Rippey forecasts the intense El Niño will lead to what he calls “pretty profound” impacts for the rest of the winter, and even into spring.

U.S. Rail Carriers Could Now Halt Grain Shipments as Early as Wednesday in Preparation of Friday's Possible Strike

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 21:27:14 GMT

Grain shipments on some railroads could stop as early as Wednesday, two days ahead of the possible rail strike. The Biden administration urged railroads and unions to reach a deal and avoid a shutdown of the rail system on Monday, but as the country’s two largest rail unions remain at odds with rail companies, a rail stoppage is growing more likely.

The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) was on Capitol Hill Monday, reminding legislators of the economic implications a rail strike would have on the entire economy. Max Fisher, NGFA chief economist, says the association is getting Congress ready to act if they need to stop a rail strike starting Friday, Sept. 16.

“The railroads are already stopping shipments of certain commodities such as hazardous materials, chemicals, etc.,” Fisher told Farm Journal. “We’re hearing grain shipments on some railroads could stop as soon as Wednesday.”

As AgWeb first reported in July, a possible strike has been brewing all summer , with NGFA fearful a strike would occur in the middle of harvest. Fisher says even though a strike is prohibited by law ahead of Friday’s deadline, rail companies are shutting down shipments in advance in order to mitigate potential damages.

“The railroads don’t want to have the cars and equipment out in areas of the country where they can’t protect them very well,” Fisher adds. “So, they’re taking steps to mitigate damages. For our members, they’re looking at essentially not receiving their grain on time and not being able to then ship out the finished products such as ethanol, flour, things of that nature.”

Impact on Farmers

What will it mean for farmers? Fisher says any action by railroads ahead of the strike this week will cause further delays to an already strained rail system. It will also impact basis levels for farmers.

“From what I’m being told, we really cannot have the railroad stop even for a minute,” Fisher says. “With the railroads, there’s so much planning involved in every shipment that if we get them off plan, like have all the workers at home and so forth, it’s very hard to get things started again.”

Another potential problem is grain processing facilities and the backlog it could create. Fisher fears some NGFA members will be forced to shut down.

“I think there’s a very good chance we’re going to have shutdowns in the grain industry and at our processing facilities, not to mention the impact on our exports also,” Fisher says.

According to the Association of American Railroads , railroads transport 1.5 million carloads of grain, including 340,000 carloads of soybeans, annually. In addition, 248,000 carloads of processed soybeans, which primarily consists of soybean meal and soybean oil, are transported each year.

Two Major Rail Unions Still Not on Board

While three additional railroad unions tentatively agreed to the Presidential Executive Board (PEB) recommendations this past weekend, two of the major rail worker unions are still at odds and not on board yet.

“The two remaining unions are the unions that represent the actual operators of the trains,” Fisher says. “They’re definitely critical to the operation. Some of the other unions, they’re also critical, but we’re talking like unions for dispatchers, unions for those who repair the trains, things of that nature, but the unions holding out are the ones who actually operate the trains. So, we will definitely need them on board.”

The Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) joined a large group of agricultural organizations that signed a letter to congressional leaders last week. The letter urged them to intervene to prevent a lockout or strike if the two parties fail to reach an agreement by Sept. 16.

“We are pleased that a growing number of railroad unions are tentatively agreeing to the terms of the proposed contract, but we remain very concerned that we are days away from a potential strike or lockdown,” says Mike Steenhoek, executive director of STC. “Any slowdown or stoppage of rail service, especially on the eve of harvest, would significantly impact farmers ability to meet customer demand, both domestically and internationally.”

It’s Up to Congress

While Congress could step in and limit a strike to only a couple days, Fisher says even a short-term stoppage will have a long tail.

“This is a political football, and I’m sure Congress really doesn’t want to be in the middle of this, no doubt, they want the two parties to come to an agreement. Ten of the 12 rail labor unions already have come to an agreement. We’re trying to convince the rail carriers and the rail labor for the last two unions to come to an agreement; we don’t want to have to depend on Congress to solve this. That’s kind of our last line of defense, so to speak,” Fisher says.

According to Farm Journal Washington correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer the dilemma is that: “Democrats in Congress could impose a contract more to the unions’ liking than what was recommended by the presidential panel. But that might have trouble getting the necessary Republican support to pass. Republicans could potentially benefit if there was a prolonged rail strike causing problems in the economy right before the election, especially if it could be blamed on the Democrats. This is why some believe Congress will kick the can down the tracks, extending the cooling off period, perhaps past election day, rather than imposing a contract. But that is no long-term solution.”

The last time rail workers went on strike was nearly three decades ago. Then, it only lasted a couple of days. With the turmoil on the world stage, the grain industry says preventing a stoppage on U.S. railroads is of great importance.

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South Dakota Farmers Find Shortage of Grain Storage

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Read More: U.S. Rail Strike Averted For Now As Biden Steps In Before Sunday’s Deadline

What’s Driving the Issues Shipping Via Rail?

Read More: Livestock Producers Report Being Just Days Away From Running Out of Feed Due to Shipping Rail Issues

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Congress Urges STB to Take Action

Wait Times Cause Economic Pain

The El Niño Effect: Is El Niño to Blame for the Historic Heat and Drought that Gripped the U.S. in 2023?

U.S. Rail Carriers Could Now Halt Grain Shipments as Early as Wednesday in Preparation of Friday's Possible Strike

Impact on Farmers

Two Major Rail Unions Still Not on Board

It’s Up to Congress