WAVERLY, Ill. – It takes a lot of capacity to get the crop to market when the land yields 220 bushels per acre.
Elevator operator Robert Johnson meets those demands.
The American grain handling system has a lot of private elevator operators, and in southern Illinois, not far from where Abraham Lincoln was raised and entered politics, one of the largest is Johnson Grain.
Unlike the western Canadian system, where a few large companies offer grain collection, many American operators often own only one.
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“We have one of the bigger shuttle facilities,” Johnson said.
“It’s got storage of about 10.2 million bu., retrieving about 50,000 bu. per hour. We have to turn trains around in a shift.”
In a region where much of the grain goes out by river barge, the 110 rail car shuttles move midwestern grain to the west and south.
“Burlington Northern (Santa Fe Railroad) came to us in about 2002 and asked us to build this facility,” he said.
“We had the two traditional elevators before this. It was a big investment and it’s gone over really well with the local farmers.”
To build the facility, the company had to lay about 2.5 kilometres of rail to reach the main line.
“It was an investment, but we had faith in the market for our services,” Johnson said.
The railroad wanted to access midwestern corn to serve the cattle feeding industry in Texas and Mexico and needed large scale rail elevators that could compete with river operations.
Robert Johnson Grain began in 1975, trucking grain to river barges. Over the years it bought two older elevators to provide additional gathering and storage for the Mississippi loading system.
The steel elevator that forms Johnson Shuttle LLC began operating in 2004 with just 1.3 million bu. of storage and a grain drying capacity of 10,000 bu. per hour.
With a recent dryer expansion, it will be able to dry 27,000 bu. of corn per hour. A single corn storage shed holds six million bu. and is fed by pay loaders pushing corn into drag pits.
In addition to large steel bins, the system has an outdoor storage area that can add another two million bu. during the harvest push.
“We also have to keep the farmers and truckers satisfied that their trucks don’t wait too long. It’s a service business and it’s very competitive, both on price and the way they are treated,” he said.
To get the grain into the facility, two scales operate 12 hours per day for incoming grain and one for outgoing grain. Probes are located at the scales, and this year drivers will be issued radio frequency identification cards linked to farm-and-load identification that should make sorting deliveries more efficient.
A high speed computer printer delivers scale receipts to the drivers as they leave.
Grain buyers and elevator operations communicate with farmers via e-mail, recorded phone messages at the facilities and text messaging to cellular smart phones.
“We can take in about 80,000 bu. per hour in three pits with 50, 20 and 30 (thousand bu. per hour) legs,” Johnson said.
“When we are shipping, we have state graders on hand to ensure everything is right.”
Johnson said price is important but he avoids speculation when buying and selling.
“At 440,000 bu. per shuttle, would you want to make a mistake? Not at $3, $5 or $7 a bu. you wouldn’t. We get it in and get it out. That’s where we make our share,” he said.
“This year is really going to put our system to the test. I expect it’ll be a late harvest, lots of damp grain and we’ll be busy getting (its condition ready for shipping) and getting south …. The grain business here is based a lot on your customer loyalty. To get that, we treat them fairly and we don’t mess with their time. We get them in and out and paid. That makes us money too.”
