Harvest Challenges in 2024

By Charles Hurburgh

As we move through what has been a very rapid harvest season, there are a few things to keep in mind for preparing this crop for what likely will be a long storage period.

Corn and soybean moistures have been quite low, which is very good for storage stability.  However, potential for handling breakage approximately doubles for every two percentage point drop in moisture.  For example, 13% corn will break about twice as much as the same corn in the same handling/harvesting system at 15% moisture.  Expect more fines (broken corn-foreign material, or foreign material for soybeans progressively with each successive handling after harvest.  Fortunately, heated air drying, which compounds breakage susceptibility compared to in field or natural air, will be less necessary this fall;

Dry grain can still spoil if not aerated and cooled.  To promote uniform air distribution, bins should have the center cores drawn out right away; more than once during harvest for large diameter (over 50 feet) bins.  Grain is coming out of the field at higher than normal temperatures in 2024.  Be sure to cool immediately after harvest. 

The dew point of the air is a good indicator of how far the grain can be cooled; this fall dewpoints have been low, in the 40s and 50s, sometimes lower.   Airflow of the minimum recommended 0.1 cfm/bu will cool a bin throughout in about 150 hours of running.  The higher airflows typical of in-bin drying systems, will be proportionately faster.

The late June Northwest Iowa flooding created the need for replanting fields.  Late replanting created mixtures of wet and dry grains at harvest if fields were not harvested separately.  Corn dryers will not equalize moisture of non uniform mixtures.  Studies have shown that a moisture spread of about 4 percentage points is common in normally maturing corn; much higher when the incoming corn is widely varying.  Progressively wider moisture variation will have progressively shorter safe storage life.  Mixing, such as with a stirring machine, will help.  Corn in this situation should be the first grain marketed,  preferably when the weather is still cold.  Pay attention for frozen clumps that could clog handling systems.  Do not enter bins; you may have to warm the grain with aeration to breakup the frozen clogs.

What you do right after harvest will have a major impact on grain condition later in the marketing year.