Piles of commodities during the harvest season aren’t exactly out of the ordinary, but the reasoning for this year’s stacks is unique says a report at Agri-Pulse.
For many grain elevators in the Dakotas and surrounding states, the soybean superhighway sending soybeans to export markets via the Pacific Northwest might as well be a cul-de-sac.
“The option in that part of the country is either a widening basis or no bids,” Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, said in an interview with Agri-Pulse.
The basis – the difference between the futures price and the cash price paid at local elevators – is also causing USDA to explore how to give producers hit by the phenomenon an extra boost through its $12 billion trade assistance package.
American Soybean Association President John Heisdorffer, an Iowa producer, says farmers in that region are already stretched thin with storage – there are even anecdotal reports of grain being stored in machinery sheds – and now product quality concerns are coming to the surface.
Read the full report here.
