Western Pennsylvania, in particular Butler and Beaver counties, used to be corn deficient. This means there was not enough produced to provide for local livestock operations.

There used to be many sheep, beef, hog and dairy farms that needed corn for grain and forage for feed purposes.

Generally, a lot of the corn was harvested as ear corn or for silage. Back then, corn was imported from Ohio to meet feed needs if producers did not grow enough of their own grain.

Today, there are fewer livestock and dairy farms, although many are much larger than they used to be. There is also much more corn produced in Western Pennsylvania than needed to support the livestock and dairy farms. In addition, fewer farms are using corn for feed. This all means there is more grain going to market and not enough storage space.

Grain storage is in short supply in the fall, as evidenced by the huge piles of corn at some of the local elevators.

Many grain producers have at least some grain storage but most would agree they do not have enough. In the past few years, there have been many new bins erected as producers have scrambled to find storage.

Under the Farm Storage Facility Loan Program alone, storage structures have been built that total more than 500,000 bushels of capacity.

FSFLis a seven-year loan program for new grain bins, silos and related equipment.

The current interest rate for FSFL loans is 3.25 percent, and the down payment must be at least 15 percent.

We are still administering FSFL under the rules from the expired Farm Bill.

When a new Farm Bill is enacted, FSFLrules could change, but for now, it provides an opportunity for a low-interest loan for storage structures.

Producers who need more storage may want to consider an FSFL option. Leaving grain stand unharvested in the field can be quite costly with commodity prices so high.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.