--> Rebman Farms Producer of Quality Grains in West Central Illinois

GrainTrak Project
Schuyler County Farm Bureau—1990

The purpose of this project was to provide an example, and determine the end destination and usage, of specialty corn produced in Schuyler County, Illinois. This captioned pictorial documentary will educate both producers and landowners alike of the processes involved after grains are harvested and leave the farm, as well as underscore the importance of foreign trade and export in the grain business.

  1. Photo of grain being loaded into a truck.

    A Schuyler County producer was located who had grain contracted with Garnac Grain Co., Inc., a large multi-national grain trading company with a river terminal facility located 2 miles south of Frederick, IL on the Illinois river. With the close cooperation of Garnac grain manager George Reynolds, grain merchant Greg Dolbeare, and Garnac personnel from Kansas City, MO to Destrehan, LA, in conjunction with Garnac personnel in Japan, Mexico, and other subsidiaries worldwide, we were able to track a load of corn as it left the farm and traveled to the end user.

    January 26, 1990 Grain loaded into truck near Frederick, IL.

  2. Photo of the Garnac Grain Co., Inc. sign.

    Corn was delivered to Garnac Grain, Inc., where grain it was weighed, graded, and loaded upon barges for transfer to Garnac's terminal facility in Destrehan, LA, where the grain will be unloaded from the barges and transferred to ocean-going vessels for foreign export.

  3. Photo of the Garnac Grain, Inc. grain elevator facility near Beardstown, Illinois.

    Garnac Grain, Inc., located 2 miles south of Frederick, Illinois, on the Illinois River near Beardstown. (This river terminal location has since been sold to, and is under management of, ADM.) This facility has a storage capacity of 2,750,000 bushels and a trade area of 10 counties.

  4. Photo of being dumped at the grain elevator at Garnac.

    Corn dumped and segregated by moisture and grade into bin #24 by Garnac employee Buck Comiskey. Corn was then loaded by conveyor belt onto barges along the Illinois River.

  5. Photo of corn being loaded onto barge.

    Two barges were tracked due to the split load out of bin #24. Barge RRS 7913 had 50,133.04 bushels of corn loaded on it, while barge RRS 8192B had 54,936.96 bushels of corn loaded.

  6. Photo of two tug boats from Logsdon's Tug Service.

    After the barges were loaded, they were moved to fleeting areas on the Illinois River, located between Frederick and Beardstown, by Logsdon's Tug Service. Logsdon's Tug Service transfers barges from river terminals in the area to their fleeting areas, then assists larger tow boats in placing these barges in tow for their trip down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to their destination in Destrehan, Louisiana. On the way down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, the two barges being tracked changed tow boats several times. RRS 8192B was placed in tow aboard the Lois Ann at Beardstown with the assistance of Logsdon's Tug Service on February 2, 1990. It was transferred to the Sarah Elizabeth on February 5, 1990 and completed the trip to Destrehan, Louisiana with the Trojan Warrior. RRS 7913 was placed in tow at Beardstown with the assistance of Logsdon's Tug Service aboard the Alice Klusak, a Iowa Marine Corporation boat, which is a subsidiary of Garnac Grain. It was transferred to the Sam Richmond on February 5, 1990 and completed the trip to Destrehan, Louisiana aboard the Hortenz B. Ingram.

  7. Photo of lock and dam facility #8 at LaGrange in Brown County, Illinois.

    On the way to their destination, the barges passed through several locks on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.  Pictured here is the lock facility #8 located at LaGrange in Brown County, Illinois.

  8. Photo of Garnac's St. Charles Elevator.

    Next stop was Garnac's St. Charles Elevator at Destrehan, Louisiana. This location has a storage capacity of 6,000,000 bushels with an unloading rate of 70,000 bushels an hour. On average, it processes a volume of grain in excess of 200,000,000 bushels a year.

  9. Photo of a barge being moved into position to await unloading at Destrehan, Louisiana.

    One of the barges being moved into position at Destrehan, LA to await unloading.

  10. Photo of the top cover of the barge being lifted off the barge.

    Top cover of the barge being lifted off to facilitate unloading.

  11. Photo of bucket conveyor.

    Bucket conveyor being used to unload barge. Each bucket contains 100 bushels, and it takes about 45 minutes to unload a barge.

  12. Photo of the interior of a barge with corn in it.

    Interior image of the barge being unloaded.

  13. After the grain was unloaded at the Destrehan, LA location, it was then loaded onto two separate ocean-going vessels, the Oceanic Mindanao (headed for Japan) and the Sirius (headed for Mexico). As each of these ships headed for their respective ports of destination, they carried the grain to the end-users who had varying plans for the end-usage of the corn.

  14. Photo of the Miraflores Locks in the Panama Canal, Panama.

    Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, Panama through which ships Sirius and Oceanic Mindanao both passed. In 1987 there were 13,444 transits carrying approximately 149 million long tons of cargo. Rates of toll at the time were $1.83 US currency per ton for laden ships, and $1.46 US currency per ton for ships in ballast. The average toll for ocean-going commercial vessels in 1987 were $26,850.

  15. Photo of the Panama Canal.

    Another shot of the Panama Canal. These pictures of the canal area were taken by Garnac employee, Marty Wortman, while on vacation.

  16. Photo of the Japanese panamax shipping vessel, Oceanic Mindanoa, owned by the Sumitomo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan with Garnac employee, Kazuyoshi (Kyle) Uchida standing next to it in the port of Chiba, Japan.

    Loaded first was the Japanese vessel Oceanic Mindanao, owned by the Sumitomo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The destination is the Port of Chiba, in Toyko Bay. The ship was loaded with 2,163,652 bushels of corn to be used for human consumption. This type of ship is known as a panamax, and is the largest type of ship able to traverse the Panama canal.  The Oceanic Mindanao sailed on February 20, 1990 at 9:48 p.m. The estimated date of arrival in Japan was on March 20, 1990. It was unloaded April 2, 1990. Photo of the vessel in Destrehan was unavailable. Garnac employee, Kazuyoshi (Kyle) Uchida standing next to the loaded vessel at the port of Chiba, Japan.

  17. Photo of the transfer barge being unloaded at a grain transferring facility in Chiba, Japan.

    Transfer barge being unloaded at grain transferring facility in Chiba.

  18. Photo of pneumatic unloader on rails.

    Movable pneumatic unloader on rails.

  19. Photo of pneumatic unloaders discharging corn.

    Discharging corn by pneumatic unloaders into silos so dust is suppressed and can discharge through small openings of hold hatches in case of rainy weather.

  20. Photo of loading grain from ship to barge.

    Direct pneumatic loading from vessel Oceanic Mindanao into barge for transfer to another facility. Note the dust suppression system on the barge.

  21. Photo of the ocean-going vessel, the Sirius, being loaded with corn.

    Ocean-going vessel, the Sirius, with a dead weight of 27,140 metric tons being loaded with corn. The destination of the ship is the port of Guaymas, State of Sonora, Republic of Mexico. The Sirius sailed on February 22, 1990. Data was not available to determine the date of unloading. The buyer of the corn was the Union de Associacner Aviocolar del Estado de Sonora, a cooperative, where the corn has been used for poultry feed.

  22. Photo of the port facility at Guaymas, Mexico.

    Port facility at Guaymas, Mexico.

  23. Photo of Sirius being unloaded in Mexico.

    The Sirius being unloaded at the Port of Guaymas, Mexico.

  24. Photo of the interior of the Sirius being unloaded by a clamshell bucket.

    Interior of vessel Sirius being unloaded by clamshell bucket.

  25. Photo of a truck transferring corn from the Sirius.

    Truck transferring corn from the vessel Sirius to the elevator where the corn will be processed into poultry feed.

  26. Photo of acknowledgements at end of article about the project.

    Special thanks to George Reynolds, Manager of the Beardstown facility for helping us get this project started. A special thanks also to Greg Dolbeare who was our communication liason locally between the Schuyler County Farm Bureau and Garnac Grain Worldwide who had to listen to me daily and put up with my questions about where "our" grain was at any point in time. Thank you to Marty Wortman, employee of Garnac Grain, Beardstown facility, for providing the Panama canal pictures while on vacation. we are especially grateful to Mr. Kim Logsdon, owner of Logsdon Tug service, for his information about barges and personally letting us accompany the placement of barge RRS8192B on the Lois Ann. Thanks also to Mr. Bill Farmer, Logsdon Tug Service, for all his information and putting up with our visits. Appreciation of thanks to Mr. Chip Daniels, corn trader for Garnac grain in Kansas City, for his coordination and fax messages from mexico. Also, thank you to Mr. Bill Schieber, grain logistics coordinator, Garnac Grain, Kansas City, for his assistance in obtaining pictures and data from Japan. A special thanks to Kyle Uchida, Garnac grain, Tokyo, Japan for the pictures at the Port of Chiba. And finally, to all the people locally and worldwide who either assisted us directly with pictures and information or indirectly with various jobs associated with moving our grain from our farms in schuyler County, Illinois to processors and users of our grain products around the world.

Site Menu


  1. Home
  2. History
  3. Centennial Farm
  4. Landlord Services
  5. Grain Trak
  6. Marketing
  7. Research
  8. Technologies
  9. Ag Links
  10. Newsletters
  11. Photo Gallery
  12. Contact
Copyright © 2024 Rebman Farms.
Portions copyright © 2024 Logonix Corporation.