Dorchester Times: Nebraska's Mountains Of Corn Continue To Grow

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Nebraska's Mountains Of Corn Continue To Grow

Two years ago, area farmers were cashing in on corn worth $8 or more a bushel. Times were good in rural Nebraska as money trickled down to other sectors of the economy, including main street businesses.

But two years makes a big difference. Today corn for November delivery in Dorchester is around $3.40 a bushel.

It's not just farm commodities that are under pressure. So are oil and precious metals. It appears the market recognizes that the U.S. economy, while keeping its head above water, continues to be under some serious stress as global growth wanes and our government presses on with high taxes, environmental agendas and healthcare mandates.

When it comes to corn prices, consecutive years of near-record harvests mean farmers have simply produced more than a slow-growth market needs. A story in today's Lincoln newspaper details the situation in Nebraska -- where "a temporary mountain range has sprouted ... as farmers bring in one of the most bountiful harvests in the state's history."

According to the Journal Star, "despite years of steady growth in storage capacity, grain has filled up nearly every bin and silo and overflowed, forming massive ground piles that stand stories high."

The story points out that commercial storage space in Nebraska grew from 455 million bushels in 2011 to 491 million as of June and likely has topped 500 million with new facilities having come online since then. And yet there's still an estimated 65 million bushels of corn currently laying on the ground in Nebraska.

This doesn't even include on-farm storage, which has grown to 1.15 million as of 2013, the most recent year for which information is available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Forecasters expect Nebraska's 2014 corn crop to come in at 1.58 billion bushels, down 2% from last year's record. Soybean production in Nebraska is forecast at a record high 284 million bushels, up 11% from a year ago.

The Journal Star mentions Dorchester-based Farmers Cooperative, "which boasts about 58 million bushels in permanent storage capacity, went into harvest season with only 5% of its space taken up. Its bins and silos are now full, and about 8 million bushels of grain is on the ground in more than 15 piles, said President Ron Velder."

"Despite a wet start to the fall, Velder said, the majority of corn has come in at low enough moisture levels to not need drying and can be stored without worrying about spoilage. Only corn that was replanted due to storm damage seems to need a bit of drying out."

4 comments:

AnonymousNovember 16, 2014 at 6:32 PM
Looks like the farmer will get another goverment check to cover the low price so they can purchase some 11 thousand dollar ground , .
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AnonymousNovember 17, 2014 at 6:49 AM
Thats just the farmers with old family money. Most farmers that actually work can't afford that kind of ground.
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cynical richardNovember 17, 2014 at 11:12 AM
............................................. I wish my wifes mountains would have continued to grow ................................................................................. they just keep sinking ..............................................................................................
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AnonymousNovember 17, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Actually, the price of commodities reflects the strength of the dollar right now...............which is really scary now isn't it?
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."