The 2019 harvest from hell has many producers assessing their grain drying capability. This includes upgrading current systems to add capacity and automation, while for others this means a first foray into grain drying equipment. In some regions, grain drying is a fact of life for most harvests. In other regions, there will be years […] Read more
Tag Archives grain drying
Carbon tax raises grain drying costs: farmers
Producers say the rebates offered by the federal government won’t fully cover the costs that they have to pay
Farmers struggling to get their crops harvested in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta will also pay more for drying those crops, thanks to the federal carbon levy. While the federal carbon price offers relief for gasoline and light fuel oil costs used in tractors and trucks, there is no exemption for grain drying or heating. The […] Read more
High demand for propane challenging U.S. farmers
CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Months after historic floods ravaged the U.S. Midwest, farmers scrambling to harvest their crops face a new headache: finding fuel to dry their soaked grains. Normally, farmers use propane as fuel for grain dryers to reduce moisture levels in corn crops to ready for sale or to safely store the grain. But […] Read more
Is natural air drying right for your bins?
Using forced natural air to dry tough grain is a bit like farming. There’s never a guarantee of success but a little bit of know-how can go a long way. John Ippolito, a regional crop specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says there are several factors that determine whether forced natural air has the ability to remove […] Read more
Going Wilde with in-the-bin aeration drying
Producer designs gauge to provide real time readout of flow rate while drying grain with an aeration fan
BRANDON — If you don’t know the airflow rate in a bin, you have no idea whether in-bin aeration drying is working. The result could be a bin full of spoiled grain. If you have real-time airflow readouts as you’re augering in, you can fill to the optimal level to get good drying with any […] Read more
GSI looks upward to solve problems
The heat reclaim system at the top of the tower sucks out more moisture, improving grain drying efficiency
There’s no disputing the fact that grain dryers burn a lot of fuel and make a lot of noise. Grain Systems Incorporated (GSI) says its latest dryers address both issues. The new line of GSI tower dryers employ a heat reclamation system to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent. As well, its […] Read more
High tech dryers operate from afar
Along with remote control technology, upgrades also include the ability to identify crop type and adjust drying
New Orleans, La. — While the latest in grain dryers deliver higher performance than their predecessors, most do that with enhanced controls. But what if it was possible to upgrade? Single heat source, continuous flow grain dryers have been around for decades and while companies have made improvements to the systems, the basic, single-module, portable […] Read moreStudy shows grain dryer fans should run mainly at night
Side-by-side trial conclusions Daytime drying ineffective because fan pushes warm, moist air into bin: researchers
Researchers say grain drying trials conducted this year have proven that aeration fans shouldn’t run continuously. Instead, fans should run mostly at night, say researchers from Indian Head, Sask. They held side-by-side trials in August and September, comparing continuous aeration to intermittent aeration of grain bins. The results confirmed an earlier hypothesis that grain dries […] Read more
Expert refutes recent research into grain drying
More information needed | PAMI official isn’t ready to rule out daytime drying
A grain-drying expert from the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute says producers shouldn’t dry grain only at night, contrary to research findings from the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation. Joy Agnew, project manager of agricultural research services with PAMI in Humboldt, Sask., told the Manitoba Canola Growers Association annual meeting in Brandon that grain growers shouldn’t […] Read more
