Source: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING submitted to
TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION FOR ON-FARM DRYING OF CONFECTION SUNFLOWERS AND GRAIN CORN IN THE BIG HORN BASIN
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1005866
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
WYO-554-15
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2015
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Sbatella, GU, .
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000
Performing Department
Plant Sciences
Non Technical Summary
In the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming, producers are incorporating confection sunflowers and grain corn into their crop rotation, and frequently face the problem of harvesting these grains with high moisture content. In the case of confection sunflowers, anticipating crop harvest helps to reduce losses by bird damage, seed shattering and wind, while preserving seed quality. On the other hand, when weather conditions are not favorable for drying grain in the field it oftentimes leads to corn being harvested late in the season. Farmers then suffer dockage and are charged with the cost of drying when the grain is delivered. As a result, production costs increase affecting profit and ultimately the farmer's ability to compete. An alternative is to use fans for drying grain on-farm by mechanically moving natural or heated air to remove moisture from the grain. Fans are mostly run by experienced operators, however there are automated controls available. There are questions regarding the best way to dry confection sunflower, since most of the current work has been done in oil sunflowers. Therefore, there is a need for conducting a study comparing the use of fans forcing natural and heated air, when operated either manually or by an automated system for on-farm drying of grain. The ultimate goal of this study is to determine the technical and economical feasibility of the currently available options for drying confection sunflower and grain corn in the Big Horn Basin.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
80%
Developmental
15%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
50318443010100%
Goals / Objectives
Harvesting confection sunflowers and grain corn with high moisture content is frequently the norm and not an alternative for growers in the Big Horn Basin. The economic outcome of these crops is affected by the added cost of drying and dockage suffered for delivering grain with high moisture content. Questions arise among farmers, such as, which is the best method to dry grains and if drying on-farm is an economically viable alternative. In order to answer some of these questions, a three-year study will be conducted at the Powell Research and Extension Center with the objective to determine the technical and economic feasibility of the current available options for drying confection sunflower and grain corn in the Big Horn Basin. The cost of using manual or automated controlled fans forcing natural or heated air for on-farm drying of confection sunflowers and grain corn with high moisture content will be estimated. The study will also provide information regarding the most efficient drying method in terms of time required for drying each crop. The ultimate goal is to provide producers with information that can assist them when deciding to implement on-farm drying of confection sunflower and grain corn. This management practice is associated with efforts to reduce yield and quality losses at harvest in both crops. Finally, based on the project findings in the future the feasibility of drying other crops grown in the region will be explored.
Project Methods
The study will be conducted at the Powell Research and Extension Center in Powell, WY. Confection sunflower and grain corn will be harvested in the fall and placed in storage bins for drying. The treatments will be the following:Natural air with automated fan control.Natural air with manual fan operation.Heated air with automated fan control.Heated air with manual fan operation.A cooperator will be in charge of deciding the time and duration of the manually operated treatments, while an INTELLIAIR automated system will oversee the automated control drying.Confection sunflower will be harvested with 15% moisture content from a cooperators field. Grain will be weighed and sampled to establish initial moisture, temperature and quality before being placed inside the bins. Stored grain will be sampled for temperature and moisture during the drying period. The number of hours it takes to dry the sunflower to 10% moisture, the number of hours the fans will be running, including energy in Kwh used, and the hours the operator spends attending the fans, all will be logged. Once the grain is dry, it will be weighed, sampled to establish final quality, and delivered. Weather conditions at the Research Station during the duration of the study will be monitored with the weather station available on site. Treatments 1 and 2 will be placed in 4 bins with a storage capacity of about 1000 bushels. Treatments 3 and 4, due to limitations in the number of heaters available will be run in 2 bins with a storage capacity near 2000 bushels. In order to have two replications of all treatments per year, and due to equipment restrictions, treatments 3 and 4 will be run consecutively.Once the confection sunflowers are removed from the bins, the corn will be dried. The process and data collection will be similar to drying confection sunflowers but in corn, the initial grain moisture will be 20% at harvest and 13% when the grain is removed from the bins at the end of the trial.The study will be conducted during three consecutive years to allow us to overcome some of the experimental restrictions determined by the number of air heating equipment and storage bins available, while allowing us to collect sufficient and significant data for a proper statistical analysis. Since the drying capacity of natural air is determined by seasonal weather, the repetition of the study through time will provide data of drying grains under different climatic conditions.The operating cost of drying on-farm confection sunflower and corn with the four studied drying treatments will be calculated. Partial budgets for the 4 drying operations will be constructed to accurately compare the systems. Since this project is simply looking at one process within the crop production system, a partial budget approach will allow us to evaluate changes in revenues and costs. For example, is it worth purchasing an automated drying system or should a producer take the decreased revenue at market? What type of drying system (manual or automated) should be purchased given production goals, and should natural air or heated air be used? What increased revenues could a producer potentially see with each process and are those enough to offset increased costs of implementing and running a dryer? By evaluating each of the 4 operations we will be able to help producers make an educated decision on their drying options.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems:Terminate without final report. PI deceased. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Terminate without final report.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Confection sunflower growers in the Big Horn Basin Changes/Problems:In the first year of the study due to environmental conditions it was not possible to harvest sunflowers with high moisture content, so the system was used to increase moisture level and set it up for commercial delivery standards. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Partial results were presented in a meeting with local growers interested in this technique. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue with study, collect data for the final year, analyze the data, summarize, write final report and present findings to interested audience.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Confection sunflowers after harvest, were stored in bins at the Powell Research and Extension Center, in 2014 and 2015. Sunflower moisture was then taken to proper acceptable commercial levels by using automated or manual fan control systems. Data that included, weights, initial and final moisture, electricity used and conditioning days were recorded for analysis.

    Publications