Facts| Infrastructure | Storage | Railroads | Waterways | Highways
& Motor Freight
High quality, reliable supply and abundant production.
These words best describe Nebraska corn.
Nebraska, known as the “Cornhusker State”,
is the third largest corn-producing state in the United
States. Climate, soil type, ample irrigation, and progressive
farming techniques are a few reasons why Nebraska farmers
consistently produce a high quality, extremely reliable
and abundant supply of corn for the world market.
Temperature: (average for growing season:
May through September)
- East: 72.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 22.5 degrees Celsius
- West: 68.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 20.4 degrees Celsius
Average Annual Rainfall:
- East: 30 inches or 76.2 centimeters
- West: 18 inches or 45.7 centimeters
Irrigation:
Nebraska’s plentiful
water supply helps make the state a reliable producer
of high quality corn:
- On average, 70 percent of the corn produced in Nebraska
is irrigated.
- Approximately 84,000 registered wells and network
of surface canals and rivers supply 8.2 million acres
(3.3 million hectares) of irrigated crops and pasture
land.
- An estimated 2 billion acre-feet (more than five
times the water of Lake Erie) of easily accessible
ground water from the Ogallala Aquifer lies below 59
percent of Nebraska’s land surface.
Top of page
Nebraska provides major
highway and rail corridors to the Pacific and Atlantic
coasts, Mexico and Canada, plus access to the Gulf of
Mexico from ports on the Missouri River. Nebraska companies
ship everything from bulk grains and food products to
auto parts throughout the world using railroads, highways,
motor freight, air and water.
Top of page
There are 1,861 million bushels of grain storage
capacity in Nebraska. Commercial storage facilities hold
761 million bushels, and on-farm storage capacity is
1,100 million bushels. The high volume of on-farm storage
is ideal for isolating specialty corn.
Top of page
Nebraska has excellent rail service from some
of the nation’s largest railroads, including Union Pacific
and Burlington Northern/Santa Fe. The state is covered
by approximately 3,800 miles (6,114 kilometers) of rail.
The Union Pacific Railroad headquarters are in Omaha,
Nebraska. North Platte, Nebraska, is the site of Union
Pacific’s Bailey Yard, the largest rail complex
in the United States. Nebraska’s railroad system
provides access to Mexico and Canada, ports along the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the
St. Lawrence Seaway, and destinations throughout the
United States. The most direct mid-continent route to
the West Coast passes through Nebraska, with branches
terminating in Portland, Spokane and Seattle and a southern
branch terminating in Los Angeles. Unit trains moving
south out of Nebraska can reach Laredo or other Mexican
border crossings within three days.
Top of page
The Missouri River, Nebraska’s eastern
border, provides a water link to the Gulf of Mexico via
the Mississippi River. Eight Nebraska ports, encompassing
19 terminals on the Missouri River (most with rail connections),
are available for service by approximately 35 barge owners
and towing companies. Eleven additional terminal facilities
are available to shippers in Sioux City and Council Bluffs,
Iowa.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel
for 735 navigable miles from Sioux City to the mouth
of the Missouri River near St. Louis. The river is navigable
approximately eight months of the year (April through
November). It is free flowing with no locks or dams.
Top of page
All of Nebraska’s communities
are connected by a good system of all-weather roads. The
system contains approximately 96,000 miles (154,000 kilometers)
of hard-surfaced roads, which helps maintain the quality
of Nebraska’s corn crop as it is harvested and transported
to storage efficiently. Interstate 80, which is the only
coast-to-coast (New York to San Francisco) segment of the
U.S. interstate highway system, is included in the system.
North-south interstate highways, which add to Nebraska’s
market access, are I-29 passing along Nebraska’s
eastern border and I-25 in close proximity to the state’s
western border. There are currently 575 motor freight carriers
with authority to operate within Nebraska and to and from
other states.
Top of page |
