Grain drying and storage concerns rise

While cereal producers have upgraded their sowing and harvesting machinery in recent years, the same level of investment has not been evident in their grain drying and storage facilities and this could be costing them time and money.

A recent survey of cereal farmers carried out in Angus and Fife has revealed that more than one third of them are working with storage and drying equipment that is at least 30 years old and two thirds have driers and stores more than 15 years old.

Commenting on these figures, Bruce Ferguson, general manager with Angus Cereals, said it showed there was an opportunity to make a step change in this area of grain production.

“There have been big changes in combining capacity and in sowing grain but neither on-farm storage nor drying facilities have seen the same level of investment,” he said.

The survey highlighted that growers were aware of the problem, with one third admitting that storage was a limiting factor in their harvesting operations.

Another figure emerging from the survey was that on average their on-farm dryers could now only cope with 60 per cent of the capacity of the combines harvesting the crop.

Ferguson said that even the type of dryer used was a concern, with almost half the farms using mobile dryers which are now considered to be inefficient. Only one-third of dryers were continuous flow models.

In looking to a solution, Ferguson said that standalone on-farm storage and driers might not be suitable to address the needs of cereal supply chains in the future.

“Many growers are unaware of the true cost of on-farm drying and storage,” he said. “That linked with increasing levels of rejections and allowances as food standards are raised adds more cost to the producer.”

His solution, and he admitted he had a vested interest, was in developing a facility such as Angus Cereals where phase one in Montrose docks has just completed its first harvest intake.

Commenting on its operation over the past few months, he said: “We were turning round lorries in 20 minutes. We were dealing with malting barley samples with moisture levels up to 27 per cent and this allowed our producers to keep moving even in this difficult harvest.”

The company is now looking to double its capacity for the 2012 crop with a view to taking in some 60,000 tonnes of grain next year.