Inside the Elevator: Meet Julie Day from TopFlight Grain

For Julie Day, working in the grain industry feels like coming full circle.

Originally from Galesburg, Illinois, Julie grew up in a large family where farm life was the norm. Her dad farmed and raised pigs, so agriculture was always part of her life. Later, as she and her husband moved around the Midwest for his job managing a clothing store, Julie found opportunities to work at grain elevators especially during busy harvest seasons. Over the years, she worked with several companies, including Consolidated Grain and Barge, Cargill, Staley, Randolph Grain, and ADM.

Her career also included time working directly with farmers through commodity organizations. Julie spent nine years with IL Corn as a membership assistant and five years with the Illinois Soybean Association before returning to the commercial side of agriculture. Eventually, that path led her to TopFlight Grain, where she has been part of the team for the past three and a half years.

Today, Julie helps support an operation that plays a major role in moving grain across central Illinois. TopFlight operates 13 locations across the region, including its headquarters in Monticello. During harvest, the company takes in roughly 42 million bushels of grain, with trucks sometimes unloading at a pace of up to 170,000 bushels per hour on the busiest days. That grain is then shipped to markets by rail or truck.

While farmers see the lines of trucks during harvest, Julie says many people may not realize what’s happening behind the scenes.

“Our outside workers are cleaning, dumping trucks, loading rail cars all hours of the day and night, and making sure grain goes into the correct bin,” she explains. “At the same time, originators are constantly on the phone with farmers helping them decide what to do with the grain they brought in whether it goes on contract, into storage, or gets sold at the end of the day.”

Those long hours can make harvest memorable for more than just the grain volumes.

“There are hundreds of great stories,” Julie says with a laugh. “Sometimes farmers will haul in during harvest and realize their trucks aren’t even loaded. But during harvest season, we all understand - we’re all tired.”

And if TopFlight Grain had a theme song for the busy season?

Julie says it would have to be “Rain Is a Good Thing.”Because for both farmers and elevators, a little rain usually means the crop and the harvest turned out just right.