By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The 2022 wheat harvest is winding down in central Kansas, and Great Bend
Co-op Chief Operations Officer Jeff Mauler said five of their elevator
locations are still taking wheat. A few recent showers have stretched the
harvest a couple more days for parts of the area.
As the wheat harvest arrives to the elevators, the Great Bend Co-op stores the
crop until the farmer or producer sells it to the co-op. Mauler said once the
farmer does sell the crop, it becomes a race for the co-op to re-sell the wheat
to make room for the fall crops.
"We buy it and then re-sell it," said Mauler. "If it's corn, it might go to a feedlot or ethanol plant. We have to maintain whatever bushels that our customers own. Once they sell it to us, then we can sell it. It's a race on time right now. We got this wheat in and now we're trying to make space."
The co-op works with several partners to sell the wheat so storage is freed
up for corn, soybeans and milo in the fall.
As of Wednesday, Mauler said the co-op has received approximately 4.5 million
bushels of wheat and expects a couple hundred thousand bushels more as harvest
concludes.