Planning for Harvest: Grain Bin Operations
Planning for harvest involves a tremendous amount of preparation and planning. Of course, combines, grain carts and semi-trucks all must be ready to roll but so do our grain bins. Most farmers try to have empty grain bins when they begin planting or soon thereafter. This is due to the limitations we all have on our labor force and being able to get all the tasks accomplished. Planting becomes top priority, so farm grain bins fall in priority for end of summer repairs to be ready for harvest.
Fortunately, we have been able to acquire enough grain to dry, store, clean and ship well into the summer months. Not only is this grain from our farm but includes our specialty natto soybean business, Delta Soy. This portion of our business has required a full-time labor force at our grain bins, and I am so thankful! We can commit to full time repairs and maintenance and the ability to focus on grain bin operations even while planting and irrigation are priorities on the farm.
However, it does take a tremendous amount of management. Operations management is key, but the coordination and planning are the most important as we step into the busy season of incoming grain, drying and shipping. We utilize our drying capacity to dry all our own corn and rice before soybean harvest. I use our planted acres and a 5-year average yield for that crop to calculate our storage and drying needs. Utilizing our marketing plan and the contracts and/or hedges in place for the crops helps me determine when and where the grain will need to be dry and ready for shipment. I must communicate and coordinate with our operations manager. Each bin is assigned a commodity and the date at which that grain must be ready for outbound shipments. These outbound shipments are key to the success of our operations because each bin will be filled and unloaded twice during harvest.
When it is time for our Delta Soy customers to begin deliveries, they are the top priority! We are open when the farmers need us to be open and focus on customer service. Our natto soybeans are non gmo and have extremely specific quality requirements to meet the market to which we are selling to in Japan. Our farmers are a group of the best around and have worked tremendously hard all summer to meet our quality requirements. Of course, there is a reward that comes with that in our pricing that makes growing our soybeans a win for the farmer. When the trucks begin to pull on the lot our focus is to get the loads graded and unloaded as quickly as possible. Therefore, the planning and preparation of our facility is especially important. Any down time during harvest is simply unacceptable. And if we do have a breakdown, we work around the clock to get it fixed and back in working order. We are a country elevator and are proud to provide good service to our customers!
That service does involve more than just unloading trucks. We utilize specialty software to track the grain in our facility, keeping up with contracts and settlements both for purchases and sales. At any moment in time, we have reports to tell us what is in inventory and who owns the inventory. We are a small operation, but I am thankful we have this accounting and inventory software to manage this information.
One of my favorite investments we have made is in an automated grain drying and monitoring system inside our grain bins. At first, I did not trust it! But now I am reliant on it to make sure we are drying grain at the best times of day to minimize costs and have confidence that the quality of the grain is being maintained. There are companies that provide people who monitor your grain for you. I have way too many control issues to do this! Nobody will manage your money better than you and the same applies to your grain.
Here are the reasons why I believe this to be true. First, I know what the grain looked like when it came into our facility. I am aware daily what we are taking into the facility and why. I graded or at least visually inspected samples of the loads myself and know the challenges of maintaining the quality of that grain. Someone at a distant location who only has a computer screen with green, yellow, or red colors to “see” the grain quality characteristics truly has no idea about that grain.
Second, a sizable portion of the grain that we dry is rice. Rice is a finicky or high maintenance crop to dry and store all while trying to maintain or improve the milling quality. The protocols for drying rice are much different than corn. Corn can be dried with extremely high heat and then cooled off and easily stored without much change in temperature of the grain. I do not know the science behind it but from my experience corn will remain at cooler temperatures much longer than rice and especially soybeans. Also, I am sure this will depend on the type of grain storage bin you are holding the grain. Concrete silos will insulate the grain from the outside temperature changes better than corrugated grain bins which we have at our facility.
Third, these drying systems are electronic and the sensors that are reading the information of temperature and moisture WILL FAIL. If you are not watching the readings daily, or like I do multiple times per day, during the drying stages and you have a sensor fail it will affect your ability to dry the grain and at worst the quality of that grain. Whoever is monitoring these readings must understand the basics behind grain drying in that temperature and humidity come into play to arrive at an equilibrium grain moisture content. This allows that person to question sensor readings that could be incorrect due to a failure. For instance, if it has been raining for hours or days and the humidity readings are low, one could tell there is a problem.
Our system does have someone on the other end who I can call and ask questions and troubleshoot any issues. This is helpful because they have access to more detailed behind-the-scenes information about how the computer portion of the system works and if something is failing or providing erratic information. But these people are not watching it daily or multiple times per day like I do.
Harvest will begin soon here in Arkansas! We are well on our way to being ready to roll at the grain bins which is my responsibility. Just a few repair items to complete and our review of safety and quality control procedures. Then I will be glued to the grain bins until mid-November when harvest will be completed. With good harvest weather it will be earlier!