Only Part Of The Story Is Being Reported ... Again -- September 21, 2014

AFP is reporting:

US corn and soybean crops could break records this year, but for farmers the bounty has a dark side: falling prices and a logistics nightmare getting crops to market.

The US Department of Agriculture is forecasting record crops this year for corn and soybeans, the two largest US crops in terms of production. Unless there is a devastating freeze or torrential rains before the harvest ends, corn production is projected at 366 million tonnes and soybeans at 106.5 million tonnes. 

Handling all this production will be complicated. According to Arthur Neal, a USDA transportation and marketing official, about 3.5 percent of the crops, equivalent to 762,600 truck loads, cannot be kept in permanent storage structures like silos -- the highest share since 2010.

That does not bother Reifsteck, who says he will rely largely on field storage.

What bothers him more is transportation.

"It is harder than a few years ago to find and keep truck drivers with proper records. We may have to use two or three more weeks to harvest," he said.

Rail problems also have affected grain shippers, especially in several northern states on the Canadian border.

An exceptionally severe winter snarled transportation, and the growing volume of shale oil produced in North Dakota being transported by train has weighed on freight service to grain shippers.

Since October 2013, the rail freight service for grain "has been inadequate, characterized by long delays, missed shipments, burgeoning backlogs, and higher costs," Neal told a Senate hearing earlier in September.

Back to "the growing volume of shale oil."

Do a word search of the article for "pipeline" or "Keystone." Check the status of pipeline permits being held up by Minnesota and Iowa farmers. The Keystone, by the way, as an agreement for approval, was required to handle up to 100,000 bopd from the Bakken. Not happening. President Obama killed the Keystone. Check out 350.org rallying cry. 

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Glabal Warming

400 ppm

By the way, speaking of 350.org, apparently 350.org showed up in 500 diesel-burning buses instead of natural gas buses or electric buses for the global warming march in NYC. I can't make this stuff up.