Just what are those giant marshmallow-shaped bags out on farm fields so unusual yet, by 2017, so commonly seen anymore?
Those are storage bags. Farmers use them to hold onto their crop until the market is right and the prizes rise; or if the elevators can’t take any more grain.
Farmers can store corn and soybeans at a fraction of the cost of conventional grain bins. Manufactures of the bags say it costs seven cents a bushel to store grain in bags verses $2 a bushel to build a bin.
The bags are made of polyethylene and can be as long as a football field. They are white on the outside to reflect the sun’s heat and black on the inside to help lower the temperature. Special equipment, called baggers and unloaders, is required to fill and empty the bags
By 2017 storage bags on fields in Daviess County, MO, were more common. Farmers use them to hold onto their crop until the market is right and the prizes rise; or if the elevators can’t take any more grain.
