PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2023

Grain elevators near Goodfield, Illinois

The margins for farmers can be van ishingly thin, according to Kirchhofer, and identifying the right price point is crucial. “The grain markets operate on a supply-and-demand type of system,” Kirchhofer said. “They’re free markets, which is what we want. And farmers are free thinkers. They know that today’s price is not going to be tomorrow’s price for their corn and soybeans.” Another scenario allows farmers that sense the price might go up in the future to store their harvest at Ag-Land starting in September and October and not sell until several months later, once that higher price point materializes. “They can contract ahead If they think the market is going to go up in the future, and they can store those bushels with us,” Liesman said. Once the farmers deliver their crops from the field to the elevator, Liesman and his staff start the hard work. The crops are weighed and then evaluated for their moisture content, making sure they’re neither too dry nor too wet. From there, the crops are dumped into underground pits near the grain bins and transported up the leg, or elevator, DEMANDING WORK, GRUELING HOURS

through a series of buckets up to the top of the bin and into the facility’s wet tank. The corn is then dried and prepared for long-term storage. Liesman and Ag-Land then shift to brokering large-scale sales of the grain they’ve acquired from local farmers. The most common destination for the stored grains ends up being the many ethanol plants in central Illinois, though considerable portions are transported to the Illinois River to trawl through the river markets. Kirchofer added one more typical market for grain: feed for hogs, chickens and cattle. “Soybeans are a source that’s high in protein, and it’s an excellent animal feed for hogs and poultry especially,” he said. In the heavy harvest weeks of late September and October, this process repeats itself over and over for 70-plus hours a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mon day through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. It is physically demand ing work, picking up ground piles of grain and sweeping tanks. These conditions contribute to the biggest challenge grain elevators face, one they share with many other businesses: attracting and retaining a consistent workforce, according to Liesman. Hiring also falls under his purview, and he has gotten creative in

finding ways to incentivize workers to stay on for the entirety of the harvest season. This year, he introduced bonuses for workers who finish out the whole season. “We haven’t had anybody quit yet,” Liesman said optimistically at the start of October. The grueling work weeks also wear on Liesman, who is in the midst of his third harvest as the grain manager for Ag-Land. But it’s an industry that almost feels like a family heirloom. Liesman’s father worked as a grain manager in central Illinois for 50 years, and his earliest jobs in high school were with the grain elevator operation managed by his father. With an upbringing that centered on farming, Liesman finds value in helping to keep the local agricultural economy steady. “I wanted to get into that field of work to help the farmer be successful with their operations,” he said.

Thomas Bruch is a writer and editor based in Peoria Heights. He has worked for the Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools, Bradley University and

now the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria

NOVEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 11