MOUNT VERNON — “It’s been a phenomenal year for corn. All of our bins are full, and it will be Thursday before we can take more corn,” said Phil Pearce, branch manager of the Central Ohio Farmer’s Co-Op.

Pearce said the co-op has stored 328,918 bushels of corn at the outdoor storage area on Kinney Road, or 8,856 tons of corn.

The storage facility is 320 feet long and 110 feet wide, and the corn is heaped 30 feet high. Pearce said it was built four years ago, but was not used last year because of a low corn harvest.

The harvest in Knox County averaged 140 bushels per acre last year. The low yield was caused by a hot summer, he said. The cool summer this year produced 180 bushels per acre.

Pearce said the grain bins on West Gambier Street in Mount Vernon are filled to capacity with 350,000 bushels of corn. The co-op has nine rail cars and will start loading them today. Each car has a capacity of 3,400 bushels.

Pearce said dust from the many trucks unloading shelled corn each day is handled in a number of ways. In the area where the corn is dumped from the trucks through a grating in the floor is a large vaccum fan to suck up the dust.

Bi-fold doors on the unloading building are also closed to contain the dust. Pearce said general housekeeping helps keep the dust under control.

Pearce said there is about another week left in the corn harvest.