Douglas County’s record soybeans crop is driving Leo Smith out of town.

Smith normally dumps his beans at Ottawa Co-op Assn.’s Midland or North Lawrence elevators, but a lack of storage space Monday pushed him into hauling his beans 52 miles to St. Marys.

Ottawa Co-op isn’t taking beans for open storage anymore, and Smith doesn’t want to give up ownership — either by selling for cash or opting for the co-op’s first “deferred pricing” plan in at least seven years.

“I want control of my beans,” said Smith, who farms 75 acres near KPL’s Lawrence Energy Center north of town. “How would you like to surrender control of your paycheck if you don’t know what the future will be?”

Causing the space crunch: an anticipated record soybean crop for the county and much of northeast Kansas, where a relatively cool and damp summer has led to a red-hot fall harvest.

The county’s corn harvest, now about 95 percent complete, already has filled elevators. This year’s corn harvest will be about double the usual 92 bushels an acre seen in the county, said Bill Wood, the county’s agricultural agent for K-State Research & Extension.

Add the expected bin-busting soybeans harvest — Wood is seeing yields between 40 and 70 bushels an acre, up from the average 24 bushels an acre — and area elevators are struggling to make room for it all.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Wood said. “The price stinks, but everybody I talk to would rather have a big crop. We just have to find a place to put it.”

Ottawa Co-op’s 14 elevators no longer are accepting beans for open storage, and farmers are being encouraged to sell their loads either for cash or taking part in a “deferred pricing” program that gives the co-op ownership control of the beans but allows farmers to decide when to sell.

Such deferred pricing likely will continue for another week or two — until the co-op can move 500,000 bushels out to make room for more beans, said Adrian Derousseau, general manager for Ottawa Co-op.

Bill Rhodes, of McLouth, unloads soybeans at the Ottawa Co-op Assn.'s North Lawrence elevator. Agricultural officials expect a record soybean crop in the area this year, and the rush of soybeans is putting pressure on elevators to find space for all the grain. On Monday, Ottawa Co-op was accepting beans for cash sale and deferred pricing but not for open storage.

“They can still sell their beans whenever they want,” he said. “We get title to the beans, so we can move ’em out … and stay in compliance with our federal storage license.

“I’m telling farmers they’ll just have to be patient.”

Smith prefers not to wait. He opted to drop his 400 bushels in St. Marys and pay the $12 in monthly storage fees than sell for cash or opt for deferred pricing at an Ottawa Co-op location.

He’s hoping for higher prices, but not holding his breath.

“I’ve probably made the wrong decision,” Smith said Monday, “but it’s very difficult to know how to make a right decision in this business.”