A Glut of Grain in Southwest Kansas

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) – A rapid fall harvest and large amount

of grain still in the bins from last year are causing Kansas

elevators to store millions of bushels of grain on the ground.

Farmers planted 700,000 more acres to corn this year than in

2009, the highest amount since 1936. It’s the second-largest Kansas

corn crop on record and the highest in the state since 1933.

That crop plus a sizeable wheat crop has the state’s elevators

re-evaluating their storage capacities. Ken Jameson of Garden City

Co-op says his cooperative plans to add about 2.4 million million

more bushels of space this year.

But with space still short, state-licensed elevators have been

authorized to store as much as 26 million bushels on the ground.