Farmers planning on storing canola through the summer might want to consider turning on their aeration fans to warm up the canola to five to 10°C, experts from the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) and the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI).
“The goal is to reduce the temperature differential between stored canola and the outside air,” said Angela Brackenreed, an agronomy specialist with the CCC. “This reduces the amount of moisture movement within the bin, and can prevent the concentration of moisture that can lead to spoilage and heating.”
She recommends turning or aerating the grain to increase the grain temperature to between five and 10°C before temperatures outside the bin get too high.
Joy Agnew, a PAMI grain storage researcher, said now is a good time to warm up dry grain but adds it is important to be careful with how warm the air used to dry the canola is.
“If you use air that is more than 10°C warmer than the grain, the air will lose its ability to hold its moisture as soon as it hits the grain,” she warns.
“This means it will condense on the grain and possibly freeze – which would cause major airflow issues.”
She adds it is also a good idea to turn the grain again after it has been warmed.
“If possible, entirely empty the bin and put it into another aeration bin. If this is not possible, pull out several loads and put them back on top of the same bin,” Agnew said.
“The goal here is to try to mix the grain to help even out the temperature variations and help warm up the grain a bit more.”
After warming and drying, Agnew suggests storing the canola at a temperature below 15°C and notes that canola dried with a hot air dryer be cooled to 15°C for storage.
She added the larger the storage bin, the greater the risk of spoilage if not warmed.
“Bins larger than 5,000 bushels are more susceptible to moisture migration because there will be a greater temperature differential between the outer edge and the core of the bin,” she said.
Brackenreed warns canola that went into the bin with moisture above 10 per cent needs extra attention this time of year.
“Tough canola is at much higher risk, and it should be dried if it can’t be delivered right away,” she said.
She suggests a hot air dryer to quickly do the job. Natural air drying with an aeration fan will also work but is best done when the outside temperature is higher than 15°C and humidity is lower than 65 per cent.
