Moving Grain To Market

This is a picture of a farmer-owned grain facility I took on my way out to Sioux Falls, S.D, on Sunday to visit my mother. It is amazing when you see these type of grain-drying and storage sites. This is called a "shuttle loading facility" meaning it can handle unit trains. Look closely behind the field and you can see the hopper bottom rail cars sitting on the track. The track is a mile around, which means 110 hopper bottom rail cars can be loaded without breaking them apart in a matter of hours. I am not sure if they were filled with beans or corn but grain is moving! One unit train like this moves about 450,000 bushels of corn!

One big frustration, especially in the fall, is waiting in line to unload at the elevator. That does not usually happen at an elevator like this one. The first time you come in they give you a computer chip to put in your truck. When you come in you pull onto the scale and look at the computer screen. Your name will appear along with your gross weight. A grain sample is taken automatically for grading and you head over to the dump pits. There are bays to unload three trucks at a time. In the case of semi-trailers, the front and back halves can be unloaded at the same time in less than 5 minutes. In and out of the elevator in a few minutes and you never get out of the truck. What would my grandpa think if he could see this?