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Farm Bureau Supports Keeping Grain Storage and Handling Fees at Current Levels

Nebraska Farm Bureau urged the Public Service Commission to keep fees for grain storage and handling at their current rates at a public hearing May 19 conducted in Lincoln and Scottsbluff via teleconferencing. The PSC determines the maximum rates warehouses and elevators can charge for these services; they were last increased in 2008.

Farm Bureau members who responded to an online survey on the Schedule A rates favored keeping the current rates overwhelmingly, Jessica Kolterman, Farm Bureau director of state governmental relations, said Thursday (May 20). Schedule A covers most grains and legumes grown in the state, except dry edible beans and popcorn, which are covered by Schedule E.

“Our members indicated their costs for major inputs continue to increase each year. An increase in the storage and handling rates would be one more added expense farmers cannot pass along or recover,” she said.

Farm Bureau also favors eliminating the minimum 180-day storage period for which charges are levied, Kolterman said. Members were nearly unanimous in their support for ending the minimum storage period, but some suggested it could be set at 30 to 45 days if the PSC was not comfortable eliminating it entirely.