USDA Announces Temporary and Emergency Grain Storage Options for U.S. Warehouse Act Licensees

Date
November 11, 2022

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is authorizing agricultural commodity warehouses licensed under the United States Warehouse Act (USWA) (7 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) to store grain under emergency and temporary storage options.

Warehouse operators can submit requests with justifications for authorization of emergency and for temporary storage at warehousing@usda.gov.

For both emergency and temporary storage, warehouse operators must request and obtain licensing of emergency and temporary space prior to utilizing it for storage; operate the emergency and temporary storage space in conjunction with the USWA-licensed warehouse; meet all security, net worth, financial assurance, and insurance requirements as required in the WA-402; provide access to the emergency and temporary storage space for examination purposes; maintain separate inventory records of each commodity stored in emergency and temporary storage space, as well as accounting for those commodities in their DPR; and provide written notification within 30 days of the date when all commodities stored in temporary and emergency space have been removed.

For emergency storage warehouse operators must provide written justification that a need for emergency storage exists for the current crop year in the local area including the exact location, commodity type and quantity requested; receive authorization from AMS before using emergency storage space; and move commodities into their USWA-licensed warehouse by March 31 following initial licensing for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, and other feed grains, by other dates as established by AMS.

For temporary storage warehouse operators must use asphalt, concrete, or other AMS-approved base materials; use rigid self-supporting sidewalls; provide adequate aeration; provide an acceptable covering or tarp determined by AMS; move commodities into their USWA-licensed warehouse by: March 31 of the following crop year for rice and soybeans, July 1 of the following crop year for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, and other feed grains, or other dates, established by AMS, for other commodities; and provide written notification before reusing licensed temporary space for another crop year.

For information about temporary and emergency storage flexibilities under this authorization, register for the USWA Emergency & Temporary Storage Q&A session, which will take place Nov.16 at 10 a.m. CT.

For more information, visit https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/uswa.

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