Agricultural confined-space related cases of injuries and fatalities saw a dramatic rise in 2022, including grain entrapment cases which rose nearly 45%, based on Purdue University’s annual report. Iowa had more cases of grain entrapment than any other state at 9 total in 2022. Nearly all of these cases involved grain flow issues due to grain spoilage, which means that improved grain management could prevent cases in the future.
Grain needs to be checked regularly, preferably at least every two weeks, through the winter so that a problem can be detected before it becomes a disaster to deal with. Below are some tips to help manage stored grain during the winter:
Before the rush of harvest gets here, take some time to get your grain bins ready for a new crop. The first step in minimizing grain spoilage from insects is to start with a clean bin. Grain-feeding pests can survive on residual grain, broken kernels, fines, foreign material, and molds accumulated inside grain bins and around the bin perimeter. To reduce infestations, limit accessibility by sealing gaps and cracks, cleaning grain-handing equipment, remove all potential food sources, and in some cases applying insecticides.
2020 corn harvest in Iowa is likely to include increased amounts of damaged grain from the drought, derecho, or excessively dry corn at harvest. As grain bins are filled, fines and broken or damaged kernels tend to accumulate near the center of the grain pile, while whole and higher quality kernels tend to slide to the outer edges of the pile. This leads to a concentration of low quality and damaged grain in the center core of the bin.
Grain damage from the August 10 derecho storm and drought is widespread in the state and highly variable. The following is a list of five tips or good practices that farmers should consider this fall for good grain management, especially when working with suboptimal quality grain. At the end of the article, you'll find a video that addresses these five tips as well!
Know your grain quality.
Recent warm weather was great for drying crops in the field, but resulted in warm grain going into farm storage. Cool that stored grain as soon as possible to extend storage life. Forecast temperatures for the next several days are favorable for cooling stored grain to around 45 degrees.
The combination of drought, derecho and recent hot weather in Iowa increases the need to keep grain quality in check. As harvest nears, consider the following:
When steel grain bins sustain wind damage, careful inspection is needed to evaluate repair or replacement options. Inspection assistance and advice from a consulting engineer or bin manufacturer representative is the best option.
When damage is confined to the roof, sidewall sheets, or wall stiffeners of the bin, replacement of damaged materials may be feasible. Evaluation of displacement, distortion, or over-loading of the remaining structure is necessary prior to replacing damaged steel.
Iowa State’s Dr. Charles Hurburgh will be presenting on the topic “Ongoing Impacts from the 2019 Harvest and Early 2020 Crop Forecast” as an installment in the Grain Elevator and Processing Society’s summer learning series, sponsored by Sukup Manufacturing Co. This webinar is being offered on June 3 at 10 a.m.
Extension specialists in Iowa and Minnesota are collaborating to provide a series of short, daily webinars for farmers, ag professionals, Extension personnel and other interested parties from April 6 to April 10. The theme is “Essential Row Crop Management" for spring 2020, with a focus on key topics to be addressed prior to the planting season.
Each webinar will start at 1:00 p.m. with a 10 to 15 minute discussion followed by time for questions and answers. Since fieldwork and planting season is upon us, sessions will be limited to 30 minutes.
