Over the weekend I was visiting our family’s long-time friends, Mary, Arlen, and Sheila Hall, who had driven in from Kansas for our annual fishing trip and Arts Meander. Mary mentioned that farmers in her area were bagging their harvested grain this year to avoid the long lines at the elevator. Turns out it’s a […]

A near-record harvest, low crop prices and a shortage of storage space are changing the way some farmers store their crops. Across Minnesota and elsewhere, many growers are stuffing corn, wheat and sometimes soybeans into 300-foot polyethylene bags, 10 feet in diameter. The process, called grain bagging, provides temporary storage in farm fields that eliminates […]

Hay land replaced by cornfields could have hurt Brian Alff’s custom baling business in southwest Iowa. Instead, he adapted by adding corn stover baling to his services. His customers recognize the value of harvesting a second crop of what was once considered waste. Alff has learned that using the right equipment makes baling more efficient […]

That’s the question for farmers who need temporary grain storage quickly. John Peterson would rather have permanent grain storage. But grain bags suit his needs just fine for now. Peterson and his father, Steve, farm about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans near Wakonda, S.D. Five years ago, harvest found them with more grain than […]

As U.S. farmers turn in record grain crops this autumn, many will have a powerful new tool – giant sausage-shaped storage bags – to help them avoid the lowest prices in years and gain more control over trade with giants such as Cargill Inc. Demand has surged this summer for the white polyethylene bags the […]

Craig Fisher, Richardton, N.D., and John Anderson, Clifford, N.D., have learned a trick or two about using grain bags. Both use grain bags extensively. Their top tips for bagging grain successfully include: If you plan to buy a bagger, visit a farm and see how they work. Fisher says Loftness – one of several grain […]

As farming operations grow larger and yields continue their climb higher, many commer­cial grain facilities are faced with the chal­lenge of handling higher volumes. In a lot of cases, the only solution is to pile grain on the ground, due to a lack of fixed storage. However, one South Dakota co-op, tired of dealing with […]

For many years, vegetation management contractors have struggled to find a good solution for trimming trees along utility line rights of way. Most will admit the old-fashioned practices of climbing trees and using bucket trucks are time consuming and somewhat dangerous. The central division of Wright Tree Service, however, seems to be one of the […]

Westar Energy, like many other electric utilities, is always looking for ways to get through more miles at a lower cost when it comes to vegetation management. This was especially important on a recent project in which the utility had to trim 1,900 miles of distribution right-of-way. Much of the contract included areas that were […]

Record crops and transportation bottlenecks are straining the nation’s grain storage system in ways it hasn’t seen in nearly a decade. That adds up to a lot of grain with nowhere to go and is hitting farmers through the double whammy of low grain prices and wide basis. The problem is particularly acute in the […]