November 20, 2009

Silos get a ‘go’
Grain co-op will expand storage space

By Kathy Ursprung
The Chronicle

     Mid-Columbia Producers got the go-ahead Wednesday to add two new 556,000-bushel grain silos to its site on Bargeway Road from The Dalles port commission.
     “They needed permission from the port, because they lease the land from the port,” said Andrea Klaas, port executive director.
     The grain cooperative is also seeking vacation of a city easement for a rail hub that runs adjacent to the property to make room for additional landscaping on the site. As property owner, the port will carry that request to the city.
     “I think it used to go out to the old fuel terminal that was out there many, many moons ago,” Klaas said. The rail lines are long gone, leaving empty ground.
Part of the reason the silos are being built now is because next year, from December 2010 to March 2011, the locks at The Dalles Dam and some others upstream will be closed for major repairs. That means no long-distance river traffic on the Columbia for the duration, essentially bringing upstream river commerce to a halt.
     “That’s really a small part,” said Jeff Kaser, general manager of
Mid-Columbia Producers. “The main reason is because, when we built the new elevator in 1997 there wasn’t enough space to handle the regular harvest.”
That means additional costly barge trips down river each season.
     “This gives us that flexibility to handle the harvest and to store additional wheat from prior years,” Kaser said.
     Kaser added that the elevator probably wasn’t built to that full capacity originally as a result of cost.
     “It costs a lot of money to build grain space relative to its return,” Kaser said. After the city turned its attention to restoring The Dalles’ link with its riverfront, in part by demolishing the much larger downtown grain elevators, Mid-Columbia Producers had to quickly build new storage space to meet the local growers’ needs.
     “Mid-Columbia Producers is owned by the farmers it serves,” Kaser said. “The benefits go back to the farmers in the area.”
     As for the locks closure, that’s more of an issue for upriver growers, Kaser said. Bonneville Dam won’t be closed, so The Dalles will still have river options. Upriver growers will have to find ways to work around the problem.
     “A lot of farmers don’t normally ship their grain until December or January,” Kaser said.
     Some may choose to bring their grain to The Dalles, since it is the closest country elevator to the export market, but Kaser doesn’t expect a lot of that.
     “[River] freight from The Dalles to Portland is not much different from, say, Walla Walla,” he said.
     Other growers may choose to ship their grain downriver earlier to avoid the closure, to use rail options, or to store their grain longer.