grain
Photo by Jeff Adkins

Q: Where do you sell the grain raised on your farm?

Where to sell grain on the farm is the million-dollar question. When I think about this on our farm, it is nice because we have several options of where to sell and what the grain will be used for.

With our farm being located halfway between St. Louis and Decatur, it allows us to go where better prices are being offered. If we sell our grain to Decatur processors, it will be used for ethanol or biodiesel.

Our main option, however, lies with St. Louis barge loaders and ethanol plants. About 90 percent of our grain goes down the Mississippi River for export. There are nine terminals right now, with another one to come online in the next year. With this, there is competition for our grain, which can work in our favor.

Marketing grain is probably the most difficult job I have on our farm. To have options that generate competition is always an advantage to us and other farmers as we try to answer that million-dollar question of where to sell our grain.

About the farmer: Heath Houck serves as chairman of the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders Committee. He farms near Nokomis in Montgomery County.

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