Reading Time: 4 minutes The cheapest option for grain storage — piling it right on the ground — is a genius idea if it works, but it’s a disaster if it fails, says Mitch Smith, a customer account manager at United Farmers of Alberta in Vermilion. “Lots of guys do it with a straight-up grain pile into the fall […] Read more
Costing out your grain storage options
Grain bags are only economic for larger, 70,000-bushel-plus storage, according to an Alberta Agriculture analysis
Moisture in or moisture out?
Are you really drying that grain when you turn on the fans?
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s the disaster no one wants to admit — a bin of spoiled grain can represent the loss of a producer’s entire year of profits. When grain spoils due to problems with storage, “farmers usually sell it, burn it or hush it up,” says Joy Agnew, project manager for Agricultural Research Services at the Prairie […] Read more
A marketing strategy for stored grain
Is it worthwhile to store your grain on the farm while you wait for commodity prices to rise?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Storing grain on the farm can be a good marketing strategy because, if managed carefully, it can increase a producer’s profits, but it’s important to have a handle on your storage and opportunity costs to assess if it’s actually going to put money in the bank. The capital costs of storage vary depending on whether […] Read more
Richardson books record port handle during expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prairie grain firm Richardson International has wrapped up construction of a major new expansion at its Port Metro Vancouver export terminal and reported a record grain handle for the year while doing so. The Winnipeg company on Tuesday reported its North Vancouver terminal shipped 5.2 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2015, which it […] Read more
Moving grain to market
Truckers and farmers are still figuring each other out following a massive move to hired transport
Reading Time: 6 minutes The 2014 crop is in the bin, and farmers now face their two perennial post-harvest challenges. They must market their grains and oilseeds amid a challenging world scene, and they must move those harvests efficiently off the farm. Over the past 20 years, the way they’ve done that second job has changed dramatically. Back when […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
