Grain Elevators Full - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Soybean harvest is running nearly 3 weeks ahead of average.  

Elevators are filling up fast, some have even had to turn farmers away because they are full and now waiting on trains.

Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin takes you west of Jamestown where farmers are hauling millions of soybean bushels to town.

(Kevin Knodel / Cleveland Elevator Manager) "Have you ever had a harvest where you have had all of your commodities ready at one time? Never, never. talking to a farmer today, we could be harvesting beans, harvesting corn and planting winter wheat at the same time."

At Country Grain Cooperative in Cleveland, Kevin Knodel says this has been the fastest soybean harvest he's experienced in his 30 years as elevator manager.

700-thousand bushels--filling an elevator and two ground piles in just 15 days. 

(Kevin Knodel / Cleveland Elevator Manager) "We took in about the same amount of bushels last year in 35 days as we did in 15 days this year."

(Sarah Gustin / sgustin@kxnet.com) "This 300-thousand bushel soybean pile is the largest ever to be sitting in Cleveland and bushels could still be sitting here come November."

Knodel says the bean rush started about 10 years ago, and an increased number of soybean acres is only 1 reason for all these beans on the ground.

(Kevin Knodel / Cleveland Elevator Manager) "Our yields are better than last year. The prices are pretty phenomenal. Why put 15 dollars beans in the bin? And equipment is really getting fast. Farmers are getting big and they can go."

Now that Cleveland is full, many farmers aren't stopping harvest, but tacking on the extra 15 miles making the haul to Eldridge.

(Dale Whittmier) "It's a nice little drive." I'd say it's the earliest, but it's not a record, but it's very good for what we had for rain."

Elevator Manager Travis Traut says they are nearing their limit with nearly 2.7 million bushels of soybeans.

(Travis Traut / Eldridge Elevator Manager) "A lot of times we have a little break between corn and beans or it's stretched out. A lot of our freight was set up for October. And last 1/2 of September. Now we have moved 4 of our shuttles up in the month of September for soybeans and we are moving corn up pretty aggressively for the first part of October.

12 hours a day--hundreds of trucks are pulling in and out.

Creating a harvest season scene Traut won't forget.

(Travis Traut / Eldridge Elevator Manager) "Is this the busiest season you can remember? "By, far. it's been fun."

Knodel says the Cleveland location hopes to start dumping soybeans again tomorrow.

He says many farmers are now starting to combine corn. 

He says they are preparing to pile a record 1/2 million bushels of corn on the ground.