Drying capacity doesn’t match the job ahead

I’ve talked to a number of people in recent days who are shaking their heads at the grain drying job ahead. Producers are desperate to make harvest progress, but there isn’t adequate drying capacity. Harvesting production in the tough category is bad enough, but large quantities have been combined in the damp category. Getting rid of that extra moisture takes more drying time. A lot of the crop remaining in the field is canola and flax. Both are valuable, but both are oilseeds. They are often being run through systems twice to avoid fires and still remove enough moisture. That means the drying capacity in tonnes per hour is limited. Producers are binning crop in the hope that they can get it dried, but they may have to keep rotating that grain as they wait for driers to become available. Some producers are using grain bagging systems hoping that the exclusion of air will prevent grain spoilage. Any grain bag punctures could be an even bigger problem than normal if there’s damp grain inside. Although dealing with this extremely late harvest is a big frustration, there is consolation. If frost had arrived at the normal time and/or if September hadn’t turned out much hotter than normal, we’d be facing much bigger problems and much larger losses. I’m Kevin Hursh.