Wireless bin monitoring system eliminates storage woes

LANGHAM, Sask. — It’s a beautiful winter payday. The B-train and auger are set up and ready. The auger is powering into the bin. Then the smell hits. Next the grain flow chugs to a stop. “Now, this does not need to happen in today’s world,” Wayne Clews, founder of Clews Management, says passionately. “All […] Read more

An emerging problem with tall bins is that they are becoming nearly as tall as the grain legs that are supposed to feed them. This creates a very shallow angle between the leg and the top of the bin, making it more difficult to operate the leg effectively.  |  GSI photo

Build your own handling system

Expanding your farm’s size has benefits when it comes to economy of scale. But just like higher grain yields, the higher volume can create a schmozzle with your grain handling system. Buying or renting new land nearly always means spreading the farm further afield. That can leave you with grain bins scattered far apart. Or, […] Read more

Naomi Manu and Paul Armstrong test moisture stored in bags while gathering data in Ghana on the Post Harvest Loss meter.  |  ARS-USDA Photo

Moisture meter targets grain loss in developing world

American researchers have developed a new test to measure moisture in stored grain. While a wide variety of other moisture testers are already on the market, this one is specially designed for its low cost and ease of manufacturing. Paul Armstrong, lead scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service, said the Post […] Read more


GrainsConnect's elevator at Wilkie will be similar to this one now under construction at Maymont, Sask. | GrainsConnect photo

GrainsConnect plans elevator for Sask.

GrainsConnect plans to build a $30 million grain elevator at Wilkie, Sask., 130 kilometres west of Saskatoon. The 35,000 tonne storage capacity elevator, which is similar to the one under construction at Maymont, Sask., will be able to load 130 cars in 10 hours. Canadian National Railway will serve it, a company news release said. […] Read more

Karl Gerrand, CEO of G3 Canada, smiles in front of the new elevator in Glenlea, Man.  |  Ed White photo

VIDEO: G3 expansion driven by speed

Automated and integrated systems enable elevators to unload thousands of tonnes of grain with as few as 10 workers

GLENLEA, Man. — All of a sudden, new concrete and steel giants seem to spring up from the soil to suck in and spit out farmers’ crops. Announcements of new elevator projects have come quickly during the past few years, but it’s inside the massive structures that lightning-fast speed is most evident to the farmers […] Read more


New technologies in grain drying mean farmers can monitor the process remotely.  |  File photo

The heat is on to get moisture out of the bin

Drying and storing tough grain will likely be commonplace on prairie farms this winter in the aftermath of snow and rain that swept across large swaths of the region in early October. Batch and continuous grain dryers are the most effective way to dry tough grain, especially when it’s cold out, but they are the […] Read more

DryloBag’s grain drying system allows producers to aerate and dry their grain while using grain bags to store it.  |  DryloBag photo

Video: Storing tough grain less risky with Drylo

Demand has increased for temporary grain storage bags and equipment over the past few years because on-farm storage has been unable to accommodate big crops and added acres. There are many benefits to temporarily storing grain in bags in the field, not the least of which is the low per-bushel cost. However, there are also […] Read more

According to the CGC publication Grain Elevators in Canada, the country's four western provinces had 336 licensed primary elevators as of Aug. 1, 2016, and total storage capacity of 7.032 million tonnes. Four years earlier, the number of western Canadian elevators was listed at 345 and total storage capacity was 6.087 million tonnes. | File photo

Post-CWB stats show fewer elevators, more storage

The number of licensed primary grain elevators in Western Canada has dropped since the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk marketing mandate ended four years ago, statistics from the Canadian Grain Commission show. However, during the same four-year period, storage capacity at primary elevators increased by more than one million tonnes, the statistics suggest. According to […] Read more


Crops, like these green lentils, are best dried first, then aerated to cool, says a storage expert. After it is in the bin, temperature needs to be monitored throughout the winter.  |  File photo

To dry or condition, that is the question

October is a busy month for Joy Agnew. As the grain storage expert with PAMI, an agricultural research and innovation institute based in Humboldt, Sask., Agnew receives dozens of phone calls and emails from farmers who have technical questions about grain drying and grain conditioning Agnew spoke to The Western Producer in mid-October about grain […] Read more

Growers often focus on controlling grain temperature in the bin to prevent spoilage, but keeping adequate moisture in the seeds is also important.  |  Flickr.com photo

Fans multiply moisture and money

Increasing the moisture content by a few percentage points can pencil out to thousands of dollars in returns

A farmer who tries to improve the moisture content of a canola shipment by turning on the water hose won’t endear him to grain buyers. An observant buyer will notice that the seed coat is mushy and the effort will backfire. In some cases, canola growers have been blacklisted from elevators after being caught red […] Read more