CHESTERTON, Mo. — A new study funded by the soybean checkoff shows that soybean farmers pay more than their fair share of the costs of getting their beans to markets. United Soybean Board director Joe Meyer, Indiana soybean farmer, said that farmers not only pay to get their beans to the elevator, they pay more to get them to export terminals because large grain companies pay even less for beans rather than absorb the costs of transportation. Transportation costs shoot up even more when there’s only one feasible mode of transportation, be it rail, truck or barge, to haul beans from elevators to export terminals because there’s no competition, he said. Soybean farmers need to voice their concerns to government and business transportation officials, he said.
Thursday, July 22, 7 a.m.
