Post
Propane bottleneck threatens to slow harvest in Upper Midwest
A bottleneck in the propane supply chain threatens to slow the harvest in several Midwestern states.
Deb Grooms, executive director of the Iowa Propane Gas Association, says it’s a logistics issue.
“The supply of propane in the U.S. is good—it’s just a transportation issue of getting it all up to the Upper Midwest as the harvest is taking place,” Grooms says. “Everybody is picking corn at the same time and drying corn at the same time in the Upper Midwest.”
Harold Hommes with the Iowa Department of Agriculture says some harvest delays are possible.
“In some cases, they may have to—or they’re trying to find alternative supplies in some cases,” says Hommes. “They’ll try to keep the dryers going to the degree they can. If they have to, they may need to look at slowing down in some cases, but that’s kind of a last resort, if you will.”
Hommes is hopeful the situation will begin to improve over the next few days.
“I think if we can get through the next week or so—the ONEOK supply pipeline, in particular, has been ramping up their deliveries to Des Moines, Clear Lake and Iowa City here in Iowa, and then onto Rockford in Illinois.
“We’re hoping that’s going to bring a lot of relief.”
Several states have now suspended federal regulations on trucking hours to ensure delivery of the fuel to farmers. They include Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Add Comment