C
t
RECAPS GRAIN
onstruction
ontinues
By Joe Kelley
he 2013 harvest for United Ag’s Port
of Victoria location turned out to be
strong given the circumstances that the area
had to endure. We were much better off in
terms of harvest production than our neighbors to the south in the Corpus, Robstown
and the Lower Rio Grande Valley areas.
The summer of 2013 also enabled United
Ag to use some of the new improvements at
the Port of Victoria: our new grain dry and
wet tanks. Fortunately, we didn’t have that
much grain that needed drying at the port
this year. However, the high moisture grain
that did come through was able to be dried
down to levels accepted by the commercial
export houses. This ability to dry grain at the
Port of Victoria translated into faster harvest
for area farmers since they did not have to
truck grain to Hillje and wait in line. So,
the farmers saved on trucking, time waiting
in line and gained efficiencies in working
with a minimal amount of trucks. As for the
POV installing liquid
fertilizer terminal
actual improvements, United Ag was most
impressed with the ease of operation and efficiency of the grain dryer at the port.
In terms of quality, the grain sorghum
averaged a strong 60.1 lbs per bushel —
definitely a strong #2 to #1 grain sorghum
on average. The yellow corn came in better
than expected as well, with most of the yellow corn less than 20 ppb on aflatoxin. We
did see some higher levels come through the
elevator, but they were few and far between.
United Ag was host to grain trade missions
from Japan and Colombia at the beginning
of harvest. The Colombians were impressed
enough to buy a small quantity of grain
sorghum to use in feed trials in Colombia.
The feed trials are still underway; however,
the grades on the grain sorghum suggest that
they should see the same beneficial results
that sorghum customers in Mexico have
enjoyed for a number of years.
This year has been unique in terms of
marketing and grain movements. We have
seen our grain go to various nontraditional
markets, such as California, Arizona and Colombia. As the marketing year is still young,
we do expect to see rail movements of corn
and grain sorghum move south to Mexico.
The circumstances of this year have made
rail movements more competitive than what
they have been in years past.
The other major improvement at the port
is on the fertilizer side of the house, with
United Ag constructing a liquid fertilizer
terminal consisting of two storage tanks:
one 5,000 short ton tank (approximately
1,000,000 gallons) and a 10,000 short ton
tank (approximately 2,000,000 gallons of
storage). With this asset in place, United
Ag can have more control over its fertilizer
purchases and buy larger quantities, which
will have a beneficial effect on freight pricing. The LFT (liquid fertilizer terminal) will
go “online” this September. United Ag will be
expecting its first fertilizer tow at the port a
few weeks later.
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