Keeping Bugs At Bay Essential to Profitable Grain Storage

Midwestern floods are taking a toll on wheat fields, which may keep wheat prices high. Wheat acreage in Alabama is at a 27-year high, which has led to an increased interest in storing grain on-farm. Professionals with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System agree that this could be a profitable strategy if farmers know how to maintain grain quality and handle grain safely while it is being stored.

Dr. Kathy Flanders, an Extension entomologist, says not paying attention to the basics could exact a heavy toll, both in terms of financial bottom lines and even personal safety.

“Some farmers have never stored grain before, and for others it’s been a long time,” says Flanders, who says that growers may not know or may have forgotten the potentially destructive power of insects.

To help ensure farmers are familiar with the best practices for storing grain,
Extension and the Alabama Wheat and Feed Grain Check-Off Committee are conducting a stored grain workshop on Tuesday, July 8 at the Sand Mountain Research and Extension Center in Crossville and a nearby farm in Collinsville.
More information on the workshop can be found online at http://www.aces.edu/dept/grain/documents/SMStoredGrainIPM.pdf. Producers can also contact David Derrick, Extension regional agronomic crop agent at (256) 927-3250 or at derride@auburn.edu.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at June 24, 2008 03:42 PM | TrackBack