AFP, New York :
US corn and soybean crops could break records this year, but for farmers the bounty has a dark side: falling prices and a logistics nightmare getting crops to market.
“It is not an exact science but when we look at the fields, it looks like it is going to be a big crop,” said John Reifsteck, a corn and soybean farmer in Champaign, Illinois, a Midwest farm belt state.
Reifsteck estimated his corn crop could be as much as 15 percent higher than last year’s.
The US Department of Agriculture is forecasting record crops this year for corn and soybeans, the two largest US crops in terms of production. Unless there is a devastating freeze or torrential rains before the harvest ends, corn production is projected at 366 million tonnes and soybeans at 106.5 million tonnes.
Handling all this production will be complicated. According to Arthur Neal, a USDA transportation and marketing official, about 3.5 percent of the crops, equivalent to 762,600 truck loads, cannot be kept in permanent storage structures like silos-the highest share since 2010.
That does not bother Reifsteck, who says he will rely largely on field storage. “Hopefully most of it will get picked up and shipped during the fall or winter. With rains there will be some spoilage but if you lose a few bushels now, it is OK,” he said.
What bothers him more is transportation.
“It is harder than a few years ago to find and keep truck drivers with proper records. We may have to use two or three more weeks to harvest,” he said.
Rail problems also have affected grain shippers, especially in several northern states on the Canadian border.
An exceptionally severe winter snarled transportation, and the growing volume of shale oil produced in North Dakota being transported by train has weighed on freight service to grain shippers.
