North Dakota dry pea growers are paying a fortune to ship their crops this fall.
But that won’t stop them jacking up their production next spring.
“It looks like the acreage is going to skyrocket next year because of fertilizer costs,” said Stanley Myers, chair of the North Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
Farmers may not be getting a great price for their peas, especially after paying hefty shipping costs, but the free nitrogen fixing of a pea crop will reduce their input costs in the future.
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Pulse shippers in North Dakota have been complaining for months about a lack of rail cars, which has led to bidding wars for the few cars the elevators can get.
Myers said an elevator he just visited had to bid $2,200 US over the normal rate to obtain each 3,800-bushel car.
At harvest there is usually a $400-$500 premium. Farmers who need to ship at harvest have little choice and no influence on the rate.
“We just live with it,” said Myers.
Rail problems bedevil North Dakota farmers. Burlington Northern-Santa Fe is the only railway company serving most of the state, so farmers have little ability to play one railway against another.
Earlier this summer, the North Dakota Wheat Commission complained about the wide spreads between rail rates for elevators with 52 car loading spots and those with 110 car spots. In July, the spread rose to 15 cents per bu.
“The 52 car loads have been at quite a disadvantage compared to the 110 car loaders,” said Judge Barth, a marketing specialist with the commission.
The commission said the spread was forcing farmers to truck their grain farther than usual to avoid punishing rates, leaving much of the state’s elevator system underused.
The railway recently narrowed the spread to 5.8 cents per bu. after the commission began complaining and the North Dakota government announced it was going to investigate the situation.
Earlier this summer Barth said North Dakota farmers often get stuck with high freight rates and only get partial relief once governments threaten the railway.
Barth said farmers believe they are paying too large a share of the cost of high fuel prices.
“Everyone knows that energy costs have to be shared, but it needs to be done in a manageable way,” said Barth.
Wheat growers are hoping to clear as much of their crop through the system as they can, before it gets swamped by the corn and soybean harvests, which have already begun.
“They’re concerned with moving this grain,” said Barth.
Myers said pea producers are unhappy with their inability to affordably move their crop at harvest, but they are working on alternative buyers so that they can avoid the rail system altogether.
Researchers at a local university are trying to find a way to use peas in local ethanol plants, and Myers hopes that a plant under construction 80 kilometres away might soon become a pea buyer.
“We’re trying to get it in there,” said Myers.
