On farm storage of grain crops

Authors: Pordesimo, Lester; Casada, Mark; MCNEILL, SAMUEL - University Of Kentucky

Submitted to: Smart Agricultural Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/8/2023
Publication Date: 3/22/2023
Citation: Pordesimo, L.O., Casada, M.E., McNeill, S.G. 2023. On farm storage of grain crops. Smart Agricultural Technology. 17:1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_122-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_122-1

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: Grain storage is the preservation of the harvest from grain crops in containment structures or facilities to provide for food and feed reserves for future consumption or use in food or industrial processing. The goal of storage is to keep the grain in the best condition possible after it has been harvested. The selection of a storage method or structure to implement on farm depends on the economic circumstance, production level, cultural practices, and the climatic conditions of the farmstead. Operational considerations affecting the choice of storage are the quantity of grain to be stored and the required duration of the storage. Around the world, on farm grain storage methods cover the range from simple granaries woven from indigenous materials to the modern steel bins with all its mechanisms for handling grain and instrumentation for monitoring grain condition—a range from basic to sophisticated. In practice, this range of storage technology would superimpose over the range in the economic scale of the farming operations. Thus, small scale farming operations in developing countries would tend to employ traditional storage methods/structures while larger scale operations would employ bulk storage structures such as metal bins, concrete silos, and flat storage buildings. The greater concern for grain postharvest losses has led to emphasis in reviewing the fundamentals in grain storage and advances in grain storage structures, monitoring and control equipment, and management practices that applies to small scale and large scale farming around the world. These topics are discussed in this encyclopedia entry.