American farmers are starting to harvest this year’s corn and soybean crop, but getting the grain off the field is just one step in turning crops into cash. Storing and protecting the harvest from pests until the right selling time is a crucial step to receiving top dollar for grains.
Central Life Sciences is helping farmers maximize grain profits with a four-pillar grain protocol that involves cleaning bins, protecting grain mass, monitoring condition, and inspecting grains before they are shipped out, John Mays, senior director of specialty ag for Central Life Sciences, told AgNavigator.
The first step of cleaning out the grain bins prevents infestations, Mays explained. Farmers can clean their grain bins during the lull between the harvest and next year’s planting season to avoid the late summer heat, which can produce degrees as hot as 130-140 degrees inside grain bins, he added.
“Whether you are doing flat storage, you have metal bins or concrete, or even, if you are starting with a field sack that you are going to fill up, you want to start clean. And that’s sanitizing the bin the best you can, making sure you’re getting all the cracks and crevices cleaned out because it only takes a minuscule amount of grain or grain debris left in a crevice somewhere that can house [an insect] population that can then grow once the grain gets added back to the bin,” Mays elaborated.
Beyond bin cleaning: Protect, monitor grains are crucial to securing profits
When it comes to protecting stored grains, farmers can use an adulticide and insect growth regulator to protect the crops from infestations, which can be applied to the bin and directly on crops when they go into the bin, Mays said. Central Life Sciences offers an adulticide (Gravista-D), an insect growth regulator (Diacon), and a synergist that enhances active ingredient performance.
Outside of some moisture concerns when storing grains, many farmers think they are “home free” when the grain is secured in the bin, but insect issues can consume the grains stored in bins, literally eating farmers’ profits, Mays explained.
“If grain bins were made out of Plexiglas, we couldn’t make enough of this stuff,” Mays emphasized.
Additionally, growers can use these stored grain protectants as an alternative to traditional fumigation, like phosphate and gas, which can be hazardous, Mays noted. Central Life Sciences’ harvest protection products can also be used without an applicator’s license, he added.
“The ROI is simple. ... One, you retain more of the actual commodity that you put in the bin from a physical weight standpoint. But there’s also a quality aspect where you don’t take the risk of major dockage from live bugs or major dockage from the dead bugs being detected,” Mays elaborated.