Grain Storage Short
As Plains Crop Looms

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. —(AP)— On-farm and commercial grain bins already at or near capacity before an abundant fall harvest begins coming in from Nebraska fields have elevator officials weighing options.

Those options include shipment of grain on hand, storing the new harvest on the ground or contracting for more storage space elsewhere.

Kent Weems, manager of the North Platte branch of the Maywood Coop, said the elevator is already at 90 percent capacity with storage available for an additional 100,000 bushels of grain.

He estimated the elevator will handle three to three and a half million bushels of grain through early next year.

``We anticipate having a 75-car train here in the last part of September to alleviate the pressure somewhat,'' he said. ``But we have enough coming in on September contracts to fill a majority of the space created by filling the train.''

Most farmers have been holding last year's crop waiting for prices to climb. Weems predicted farmers will fill on-farm storage not long after harvest begins. He also predicted elevators will have to start storing grain on the ground earlier than usual.

A different element will exist this year, Weems said. More farmers planted soybeans and ag statistics services predict a record harvest for the crop in Nebraska.

Soybeans cannot be stored on the ground, but grain experts say one plus is that soybean yields are about one-fourth the bushel-per-acre yield of corn. That means less space required for storage.

Union Pacific Railroad officials also have been monitoring developments in grain storage and movement. UP spokesman Mark Davis said all 33,000 of the railroad's grain hopper fleet are on the move to distribute grain to various terminals.

``We're seeing good fluidity in the cars in the system, but we are running into some delays in unloading at the ports,'' he said. ``Our people are ready to handle it.''