It's not really a propane shortage, area suppliers said Friday - there's enough gas available to meet area customers' fuel needs. But it can only be delivered so quickly, and farmers trying to dry out their crops need a lot of propane, fast.

"We have gas right now, but the demand is so high," said Tim Borstad, manager of the Farmers Co-op Association in Canby. He estimated customers are using 60 to 70 percent more propane this fall, with a lot of it going to corn dryers.

Area propane suppliers said this fall they've been using more rail shipments, sending out extra delivery trucks or even bringing in drivers from out of state to try and keep up with demand.

"We have three trucks normally, and this year sometimes we've been up to five," Borstad said.

Brad Rosa, manager of Cottonwood Co-op Oil, said it's been a struggle being a smaller propane business at a time when "there are a lot of wet bushels" in the area.

"It's logistically tough," Rosa said. "We have had customers who have been waiting a few days after they've run out of propane . . . We're asking for patience from customers."

The keys to the current propane situation are the wet fall weather and the way propane is distributed, suppliers said. Only a certain amount of propane is allocated to suppliers through pipelines each day. Running more dryers for this year's wet soybean and corn crops uses up the local allocations faster, and can make it harder to fill orders on time.

"The whole corn belt went in at the same time. The system just can't keep up," said Al Oertli, manager of Tri-City Gas in Adrian, which sells propane in the Slayton area. Oertli said Tri-City was using more trucks and working with customers to keep them supplied with fuel.

Todd Reif, general manager of CHS in Marshall, said railroad shipments of propane have been important for supplementing what companies can get by pipeline.

"We were able to lay up a supply," Reif said, so there haven't been problems with running out of propane. But, he said, "There's also the problem of getting it out to the farm."

Reif said CHS has brought in three truck drivers from other states to help make deliveries.

"The crunch is there," Reif said. It will probably stick around a while, too. The harvest in the area right around Marshall is pretty far along, but he said you don't have to travel very far in any direction for that to change.

Rosa agreed. The harvest to the south of Cottonwood is close to finished, he said. "Where we'll have more pressure is northwest and north of Cottonwood. A lot of the fields are still really waterlogged."

Borstad said Farmers Co-op customers around Canby and further south around Highway 14 are still just starting harvest, but the greater progress around Ghent and Minneota takes some of the demand for propane.

Oertli said the Slayton area is further behind on harvest than areas to the south.

Some of the cost of supplying additional propane can get passed on to customers, suppliers said. Borstad said prices were up slightly. However, he said, farmers aren't shopping around for better prices.

"It's not about price right now," he said. "It's all about having it. Everyone is in kind of the same situation."

Reif said it does cost more to bring propane in on rail cars, although "not substantially" more. He said CHS has had some calls inquiring about fuel, but it seems most people are sticking with their regular providers.

One risk this late in the year is if home heating needs start to compete with harvest needs for propane, Reif said. However, he said if that happens, heating will take priority over agricultural deliveries.

"We will need to roll right into them," he said. "That will be the next thing up."