As the combines and trucks rolled through the fields of south-central Kansas earlier this fall, the employees of Kanza Coop made sure that the area’s farmers were well taken care of.  Compared to last year’s fall harvest, corn receipts were down, while soybean receipts were up.

“We were down in corn and up in beans,” said Jim Bob Lewton, Chief Grain Officer at Kanza.  “It was a good harvest, and there was good quality.  We ended up taking in about 8.2 million bushels of corn, 1.3 of milo, and 3.3 in soybeans.  I’m happy with it.”

-corn bunkers in Iuka

Those numbers are a testament to the continuing high levels of production among the area’s farmers and Kanza has remained diligent over the years in planning strategically for the crop sizes.  One such example is the Stafford location, having just completed two new steel grain bins and a new leg to increase storage capacity and improve the location’s logistics.  Stafford’s south elevator facility can now hold in excess of 2.5 million bushels of grain.

-Kanza’s south elevator in Stafford.  The two new bins and leg are at left.

“Having that increased capacity in Stafford was really nice this fall.  It helped us keep large quantities of grain off the ground there.”  Though elevated storage capacities throughout the company continue to grow, Kanza did fill some grain bunkers at Iuka and Dillwyn, and had to go directly to the ground in some small amounts at other locations.