With Harvest Underway, the U.S. Grain Industry Invests in Storage & Logistics

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Around $1.2 billion worth of investments are underway or lined up for U.S. grain storage and logistics facilities.

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A Large Footprint

The U.S. farm sector is currently in the middle of its annual harvesting cycle, and storage is a critical element of the huge market. The U.S. grain industry operates at an enormous scale, with corn, soybean and wheat production reaching more than 24 billion bushels in 2025, with corn alone accounting for 17 billion bushels of this and showing a 14% increase from 2024 figures, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which also reported 11.9 billion bushels of off-farm U.S. grain storage available at the end of last year.

Sitting alongside the grain elevators and storage facilities are the terminals acting as logistics hubs to move grains by water, rail or road to where they need to be for further processing. While a strong rail network helps support domestic transit, export terminals to ship these agricultural products abroad helped support more than $41 billion of corn, soybean and wheat exports last year, according to USDA figures.

Storage facilities, grain elevators and terminals are keeping pace with this sector's strong output, investing in increased capacity or upgraded facilities. Industrial Info Resources data show more than 180 projects underway or planned at U.S. grain storage and logistics facilities, netting more than $1.1 billion in total investment.

Geographic Concentration

As one might expect, the largest amount of construction activity involving grain storage and movement is occurring where these products are grown. The U.S. Grain Belt runs down a broad swathe of the central U.S., covering portions of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, and Industrial Info Resources data show that 71% of current and planned investment at U.S. grain facilities is occurring in these two market regions.

Current Construction

The movement of grain is key to current U.S. construction, with rail, road and water taking lead positions depending on geographies. All three modes of transit are in the cards for the expansion of CGB Enterprise's soybean terminal on the Ohio River in Mount Vernon, Indiana. CGB is adding around 4 billion bushels of new storage capacity and is expanding its truck-unloading capacity by 200% to reduce congestion and turnaround times. The Mount Vernon terminal also has rail access to Union Pacific and CSX rail lines, and CGB specifically noted the southern U.S. and Mexico as target markets for the expansion.

But the facility provides more than just truck unloading and rail access--it also has barge access to the Ohio River through the Port of Indiana, which goes on to connect to the Mississippi River for access into the southern U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico shipping system. Subscribers can access details of the project, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here.

While rail shipping is key to current terminal construction in Illinois, Gulf of Mexico exports again feature in one of the largest grain terminal projects presently underway in the U.S., occurring on the Houston Ship Channel in Galena Park, Texas. Train-unloading capacities are being expanded and a new conveyance system and ship-loading tower are expected to triple annual throughput at The Anderson Grain Group's Texas facility.

While the large grain loading and shipping facilities garner the most headlines, Industrial Info's coverage of current construction also includes multiple smaller storage projects from cooperatives and farmer's unions accounting for current, on-the-ground activity at grain elevators in Kansas, North Dakota and Iowa.

Future Construction

Multiple U.S. grain-handling projects are lined up for the future, with CHS Incorporated, which claims to be the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the U.S., taking a lead role in planned spending. Rising to the top of the pack of CHS' planned projects is a significant expansion of the rail and loading infrastructure at its terminal in Kalama, Washington, but the bulk of the company's plans are for smaller storage additions at grain elevators throughout the Midwest, with North and South Dakota being on the receiving end of four of these projects, which together account for around 2.5 million bushels of combined additional storage at CHS facilities in the two states.

Storage and marketing of grains to be sent for further processing is also in the cards for agricultural giant Cargill Incorporated, which will continue expanding storage at its grain elevator in Linden, Indiana, with plans next year to boost the facility's storage by another 750,000 bushels or more, pushing the Linden facility's total storage capacity to around 10 billion bushels.

Cargill's Linden facility is primarily a marketing and handling facility, near Valero's 135 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant in the city, and presumably playing a role in supplying Valero's two other Indiana ethanol plants, including one in Mount Vernon, home to CBG's current construction on the Ohio River.

Key Takeaways

• Industrial Info Resources is tracking more than $1.2 billion worth of active construction and maintenance projects at grain storage and logistics facilities throughout the U.S.
• The bulk of construction is occurring in the Great Lakes and Midwest market regions.
• Farmer-owned cooperative CHS Incorporated has the largest amount of grain handling and storage projects lined up for the future.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).