County races to find new elevator operator

Cliff Whittington, 52, left, and Rob Whittington, 49, who farm in Dunkirk, Md., have made arrangements to truck their grain to other elevators after the Anne Arundel County government recently announced that the Lothian grain elevator they purchased from Perdue this year would not be open in time for the fall harvest. County officials are now hoping to reopen the elevator in time for the fall grain harvest. (Photo by Jonathan Cribbs)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Negotiations between Mountaire and Anne Arundel County to operate a shuttered grain elevator vital to Southern Maryland farmers ended last month, and the county is rushing to find a new operator in time for the fall harvest, a county official said last week.

Details were scant as of press time, but the county is seeking an “emergency procurement” with a different operator, said Renesha Alphonso, county spokesperson, on Aug. 31.

“The county has support from our state partners, and is hopeful that the grain elevator will be open this fall,” she said in an email to The Delmarva Farmer.

Just last month, a county official told regional farmers at a meeting organized by Mountaire that the facility, formerly owned by Perdue AgriBusiness, would be closed for the next year as it needs costly updates, repairs and permits to reopen. Mountaire representatives said at the meeting that they were simply marketing their Eastern Shore grain operations to regional growers and expressed no intention to take over the Lothian elevator.

“We had a good meeting recently with farmers in Southern Maryland and we continue to look for ways to serve them,” said Catherine Bassett, a Mountaire spokesperson, in an email. “We’re always looking for opportunities to expand our footprint and we already have four grain facilities, a hatchery, and a feed mill in Maryland. We’d love to be an option there for farmers to market their grain.”

Meanwhile, the fall grain harvest for many farmers is just weeks away, and many have yet to finalize plans to sell their grain. Some larger farmers with grain storage, road-worthy trucks or relationships with truckers have expressed confidence that they’ll adapt, but concern abounds for Southern Maryland’s smaller farms — particularly those run by older farmers — that were totally dependent on the Lothian elevator before Perdue announced its intention to close the facility more than two years ago, citing its declining condition and a gradual erosion of regional grain acreage as surrounding suburbs grew.

“This year is just one that’s not normal,” said Stephen Hopkins, who runs a 2,000-acre grain and beef operation less than 10 miles from the facility. “Everybody’s struggling just to see what’s going to happen.”

He said he was in the process of adding 40,000-50,000 bushels of grain storage to his farm to minimize the amount he expects to truck to a Shore elevator. He also sold frequently to Perdue’s recently shuttered Curtis Bay elevator in south Baltimore.

“Having two local elevators shut down in the same year is devastating,” he said.

Hopkins is one of several farmers in Southern Maryland adding grain bins following the county’s announcement last month that the Lothian elevator would remain closed for the time being, said Dave Myers, an agricultural educator with the University of Maryland Extension in Anne Arundel County. Some farmers may be able to add grain storage, allowing them to hold on to some of their grain post-harvest, he said. It would also help them load grain quickly into trucks if they’re able to hire them.
Otherwise, farmers may have difficulty hiring truckers. Without grain storage, trucks could be forced to wait on a farm for hours as the farmer harvested the crop and filled the truck in increments.

“All you need is a system that can keep trucks moving,” Myers said.

Brothers Cliff and Rob Whittington, who farm in Dunkirk south of Lothian, said they’d recently made arrangements to have another farmer help them move their 44 corn acres after harvest. It’s the sort of cooperation that Rob Whittington said he expects to see across Southern Maryland over the next month or so. Some farmers have been on the phone, scouring the region for a grain auger that would make it easier for the Whittingtons and other farmers to deposit loads of grain into a waiting truck trailer. Perhaps their farm could become a temporary trucking hub.

“It’s a nightmare right now,” he said. “It’s just everybody scrambling around to find out what we’re all going to be able to do. If we can park a truck here then we can have other farmers come here with their crops and use the auger without them having to shell out money for it.”

Unless the county somehow figures out how to reopen the Lothian elevator for the fall harvest, farmer Ben Wood believes that regional farmers are going to take a financial hit no matter what as they spend more on truckers or the increased costs of trucking it themselves to more distant elevators. He also expects cooperation across the regional ag community.

“Nobody that I know of can haul their whole crop,” he said.

The scramble to save the Lothian elevator began in January 2021 when Perdue shocked growers and regional officials when it announced that it planned to close the elevator within weeks. Perdue eventually agreed to keep it open for two years so the state and county could find a buyer. After weighing various options, the county bought the elevator in March for $1.25 million.

The state, however, funded the sale, reimbursing the county $1.5 million to cover the purchase price as well as upgrade costs. Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman credited state Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth, D-Anne Arundel, for securing the money.

Southern States built the facility four decades ago, and Perdue purchased it in 2002. Myers said he was surprised by the number of farmers who had not finalized their harvest plans last week.

“It’s going to be a long fall,” Wood said. “In many ways, I’m trying not to think about it because it’s depressing. Kind of hoping for a miracle in a way.”