Late-summer rain has complicated harvest for some Prairie farmers, leaving them to weigh the cost of drying tough grain against the risk of waiting for better conditions. On a 2 September Manitoba Agriculture Crop Talk webinar, crops specialist Lionel Kaskiw said producers had been harvesting grain in the tough and very tough ranges before rain paused the harvest — and farm management specialist Darren Bond said they need to know what drying will actually cost before deciding whether to move.

There is no single cost. Fuel type and price, starting and ending moisture, outside temperature, dryer capacity, drying temperature, cooling time, labour, electricity and capital all enter the bill. Bond compared two hypothetical systems: a smaller propane batch set-up with about $100,000 in a dryer, wet and dry bins and augers, and a larger natural-gas continuous-flow system with about $500,000 invested. Drying wheat from 20% moisture to 15% at 10°C outside, the all-in cost came to about 80 cents a bushel for propane and 57 cents for natural gas — fuel explaining much of the gap, though natural-gas access can need heavy infrastructure spending and bigger systems carry capital that must be recovered.

Starting moisture matters: raising it from 20% to 22% added about seven cents a bushel on the propane example and about two cents on natural gas. So does the calendar — "drying at this time of year is a lot quicker and cheaper than drying in November," Bond said.

The other side of the ledger is what waiting costs. If drying at 50 cents a bushel avoids a grade loss worth 25 cents, the effective extra cost of harvesting early is 25 cents. Weather tips the balance too: "We will see producers speed things up a little bit and take off more tough grain if there's some tough weather in the forecast," Bond said, and a rain delay at least gives time to deal with grain already in the yard.

Alternatives have their own sums. Custom drying means hauling to and from another farm, extra handling and possibly cooling hot grain in an aerated bin afterwards. Heated aeration — from a burner on a bin fan to systems with burners and stirrers — costs less up front, works well for removing a few points of moisture and leaves the bin useful for ordinary storage, though the job gets harder as grain gets wetter. Bond urged farmers to run their own figures through Manitoba's online grain-drying cost calculator rather than rely on generic estimates: "Your numbers are much better than our numbers."

Source: Manitoba Co-operator