Harvesting your grain is the culminating event in a season of decision-making — from seed, to fertilizer, to crop protection to harvest timing. In the end, what puts money in your pocket is choosing when to sell and you can manage that decision by storing grain until market conditions are right. But the key is to maintain quality. Grain bin management will help you do that.
“Once the grain goes into the bin, the farmer no longer has visibility of what they’ve spent so long producing,” says Adam Weiss, Chief Technology Officer with OPI. “In order to make sure there is no degradation in grain quality until it is time to sell, at a minimum they need to be monitoring it for temperature and moisture and then make sure they have the ability to react when things are going in the wrong direction.”
OPI has been providing grain storage management solutions for 40 years. Their strategy has been to provide what they call a “value escalator,” which provides different levels of both price and technology to meet the varying needs of different farms. Their newest offering launching this month is OPI Blue Lite, a handheld grain bin management system for those who prefer simplicity from their tech solutions.
“We understand that not every farmer wants all the available technology on their farm,” says Brett Andricks, VP of Sales and Marketing with OPI. “Everybody has a different level of adoption rate and it is our goal to get them what they want and what will provide them with value on their farm. Blue Lite can satisfy a lot of farmers, as it’s a handheld device connected to our app to offer the information they need to make important decisions.”
OPI Blue Lite is the size of a deck of cards and fits in your pocket. The Bluetooth device is charged with a USB-C port and one charge will last through hundreds of readings. It plugs into existing cables in your bins, pairs within seconds to any iOS or Android smartphone and connects to the OPI Blue Lite app. Readings are then uploaded to the cloud and can be read instantly or saved later to review on a desktop and compare against historical data.
“OPI Blue Lite is the evolution of our StorMax handheld device which has been in the market for 25 years,” says Weiss. “It was the first handheld product to plug into existing cables to monitor for temperature and moisture. But like all technology, it needed to be updated. This new version is smaller, lighter and captures more information, yet is easier to use and works with cellphones and can be used even in remote locations.”
Monitoring your grain for optimal performance
There is a lot of value to growers in keeping an eye on their grain before choosing when to ship it to a customer. But most value comes down to peace of mind. Sometimes, grain goes into the bin with temperatures and moisture that are not ideal. To prevent it from spoiling, many bins have fans and other regulation systems. But you need to know when to turn them on. Blue Lite allows you to track your grain’s condition and to know when you need to mitigate risk.
“There is also a safety component,” says Andricks. “Historically, when grain gets out of condition there have been a lot of safety issues when growers have gone into the bin and physically tried to loosen ridges and improve flow. By monitoring your grain, you are able to react when the grain is not performing before it becomes a problem.”
It’s smart economics to optimize the value of what you have stored in that bin. Often, the worst time to sell grain is at harvest, when there is an excess of product on the market. By choosing to wait until the time is right, growers can get the best price. But in to do so, they need to prevent it from losing grade through spoilage.
“We offer a wide range of products to help growers protect their grain once it has made it into the bin,” says Weiss. “It starts with free tools on our website that help educate on how to better manage their grain. Blue Lite is the entry level bin-management system as it’s effective, low-cost, and easy to use. As growers’ needs evolve, they could then expand into our OPI Blue system which offers remote monitoring, and our expanded system which includes automated fan control and quality sensors.”
Weiss emphasizes that the OPI Support team is there every step of the way. This free resource is available to each grower, no matter the level of technology, assuring that the user gets the most value out of their equipment.
Blue Lite stays in a grower’s pocket and is taken from bin to bin for easy readings of moisture and temperature. While OPI’s other options are permanently affixed to bins for remote sensing, Blue Lite is a simple, portable way to get instant information about what is in your bins.
“Blue Lite will get users into the platform,” says Weiss. “It’s a low-barrier option designed for ease of use. Even if you are not a fan of technology, if you have any apps on your phone you can use this product. It will read whatever sensors are in the bin, whether they’re for temperature, moisture or C02.”
Blue Lite is available at less than half the price of its predecessor, StorMax. Usage of the service is subscription based but growers only pay when they use the device. They are charged per bin, per month, billed annually.
“Grain management is what OPI does,” says Andricks “Blue Lite is a simple and effective technology that will work hard to make sure you don’t lose value from what you have yielded from your season. We have partners throughout Western Canada who can help you make sure you are getting what you need for your farm.”
For more information, go to the OPI website at advancedgrainmanagement.com to be directed to a local dealer.
