Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-15-1998

Keywords

market development, transportation, agricultural economics

Abstract

U.S. Agriculture is going through a transition. Federal spending on farm programs is being curtailed and agricultural policies are being modified to make production of farm commodities responsive to market forces. In this competitive environment, efforts by the commodity groups for market development are becoming increasingly more important. However, to devise any market development plan for a commodity, understanding of the present status of the marketing system is important. At a minimum, one needs to know the methods of purchase and sale, types of buyers, shipment destinations, and transportation modes for the commodity. These aspects of grain marketing in South Dakota have not been studied for the last three decades. To fill this void, a study on grain marketing patterns in South Dakota was launched. Since a large proportion of the grain is handled by grain elevators, the data on grain marketing patterns were collected through a mail survey of the grain elevators in South Dakota. The specific objectives of the survey were to identify: the quantities of grain handled, alternative methods of sale and purchase, major destinations, and relative importance of alternative modes of transportation for the grain handled by the elevators in South Dakota. Through this survey, researchers sought information on the marketing patterns for corn, winter wheat, oats, barley, corn, soybeans, and sunflower seeds for the marketing year 1994-95. The survey forms were mailed to all 275 grain elevators in the state during the spring of 1996. One hundred twenty useable responses were returned. The responding elevator managers' locations were well distributed in the state. This publication is devoted to documenting more detailed results relating to corn and soybeans. For both corn and soybeans, the data on marketing patterns are presented by region based on USDA's crop reporting districts in South Dakota (Figure 1). Most of the discussion of marketing patterns is on the state level. However, regional differences in the marketing patterns, when present, are also discussed. In order to keep individual responses confidential, it was necessary that data for regions with few respondents be reported only after combining with adjoining regions. Accordingly, in the case of corn, the Southwest region is consolidated with the South Central region. Similarly, in the case of soybeans, the Northwest region is consolidated with the North Central region. Following the introduction, section 2 of this report is devoted to discussing the corn marketing patterns in the state. Specifically, quantities of corn handled by the elevators, alternative methods of purchase and sale of corn employed by the elevators, and major types of buyers for corn sold by the elevators are presented. Major destinations of corn shipped by the elevators, and the relative importance of alternative modes of transportation for corn shipped by the elevators are also presented. Similarly, section 3 is devoted to discussing the soybean marketing patterns in the state. A brief summary of the results is presented in section 4.

Comments

Economics Research Report No. 98-1

Download

Share

COinS