Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development officials are reminding farmers to monitor their grain once it's harvested and put into the bin to prolong the amount of time it remains at the best possible quality.
While moisture content in grain can be a problem this time of year, cooler temperatures both overnight and during the day can play an important role in keeping grains at the best possible quality.
“The storage time for any crop is a function both of the moisture content of the seed and of the temperature that the grain is put into the bin,” Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with the Alberta Agriculture Information Centre, told the Gazette.
“The drier and the cooler the grain goes into the bin, the longer the storage (can be) without any concerns about it.”
Warm, wet grain that is placed in a bin won't store that long without degrading quality.
Cutts said he talked to a few producers on October 6 and 7 that were still harvesting crops at higher moisture content levels.
“When they do that, they do have to be prepared to manage those bins, keep checking on them and potentially look at ways to reduce that moisture content if they indeed want to store that over a long period of time,” he said.
Some of the options open to farmers include putting a crop through a dryer or shipping it earlier.
Cutts said the ideal scenario for harvesting of cereal crops is if they are harvested at 15 C or less, because then when they are placed in the bin, the temperature is cool enough for long-term storage to occur without potential moisture ruining the crop.
“The key situation is to have it dry and to have it cool and that's really what you're after. If you can meet both those conditions then that limits any concerns about losing grain quality,” he said.
Of various crops, feed barley can have the most moisture content to be considered at its optimum quality for safe long-term storage with a maximum moisture content of 14.8 per cent.
Malt barley needs to be at a maximum moisture content of 13.5 per cent to be considered safe for long-term storage.
Domestic mustard seed and canola need a lower moisture content to remain at best quality, with a maximum moisture content of 10 per cent for each crop, while peas can handle among the highest moisture contents while remaining safe to store at 16 per cent.
"The key situation is to have it dry and to have it cool and that's really what you're after. If you can meet both those conditions then that limits any concerns about losing grain quality."Mark Cuttscrop specialistAlberta Agriculture Information Centre
