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NDSU Offers Corn Drying, Storage Advice

A new NDSU online presentation will help answer producers’ corn drying and storage questions.

Corn producers have a new online source of information on drying and storing their crop.

Ken Hellevang, North Dakota State University Extension Service agricultural engineer, has developed a presentation describing how drying, handling and storage are different for corn than other grain crops normally grown in the state.

The presentation is available at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/postharvest.htm.

Hellevang says this information is timely because producers are starting to harvest much more corn than has been grown in the past, with much of it grown by new producers in new areas of the state. Also, corn produces two to three times more grain per acre than wheat, for instance, leaving producers with considerably more grain to dry and store, he says.

Another issue is that many grain bins and elevators are full of wheat because of a bumper crop and lack of rail cars to move the grain out, which means producers are wondering what to do with the corn they are about to harvest, according to Hellevang.

His presentation, “Corn Drying and Storage,” includes recommendations for storage moisture content, factors affecting moisture meter accuracy, air flow rates for air drying, drying times and temperatures, storage times, advice on selecting drying equipment, drying cost comparisons and storage procedures.


NDSU Agriculture Communication

Source:Ken Hellevang, (701) 231-7243, kenneth.hellevang@ndsu.edu
Editor:Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu
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