Elevators work, and wait, as weather tampers with harvest

Harvest is in full swing and at the Scoular elevator trucks have been rolling in steadily. But this season has a distinct character.

“It's been a different type of year with the late rains that we had,” reported Scoular Merchandiser Logan Snyder. “There is a lot of wet stuff out there right now.”

As every farmer knows, weather is a big factor in determining when to harvest, as well as the quality of a crop. While trucks loaded with grain arrive at Scoular's elevator day and night, Snyder expects that recent humidity will hold back some cutting for another three or four days.

“We would like too see the dry air come back," he said. The elevator prefers not to reject wheat, but if conditions refuse to cooperate, “we tell them to stop cutting until the wheat dries down. "

The elevator crews holds watch over every truck carrying in a load of grain. After guiding a probe into the tons of wheat weighing down each hauler, a sample of is vacuumed into the elevator office for testing. Experts at the elevator measure each sample for moisture, weight and protein.

"We get the feel for what the wheat is so we know where to put the wheat in our bins,” Snyder explained. “When you put wet grain into the bin an enclosed space that is wet, hot and dark, you're asking for it to mildew and spoil. We don't like to take it in and give it that opportunity."

Scoular's elevator has been in existence for 125 years. Over that time, they've gained experience with drought and rain and price flucuations. This year, because many farmers are waiting for prices to rise, interest in contracting has slumped. Some are bending their wheat, waiting to haul it later.

Still, Scoular is receiving shipments from many different counties.

For the crews at the grain elevators it's a short or long day depending on the ripeness of each field—and that makes life unpredictable.

"However long the trucks run,” Snyder said, explaining their hours.

Recently Scoular has been unloading and storing until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.

“We'll stay open as late as we need to as long as the trucks are moving,” he added. But he knows the pace will change.

“Sooner or later the wheat gets wet and damp from the dew at night and it gets to hard to cut, so people start shutting down,” Snyder said. “We can't stay open forever."