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Grain production in Rock County closed with near record yields, and last year’s abundance of corn left one area producer searching for a safe way to store the valuable commodity until it was needed.
Shawn Feikema of Circle F Farms, a beef production facility north of Luverne, thinks he has found an easy answer by storing corn in plastic bags.
Last week he and his uncle, Bob Feikema, were unloading the first of 13 grain storage bags housing last year’s corn. So far he said he’s been happy with the results.
“Corn has been coming out at 19 percent moisture,” Feikema said. “We put it in at 19 percent.”
The stable storage option has grain placed in airtight polyethylene tubes in lengths of 300 or 500 feet.
In the two months Feikema has stored corn in the bags on the field where it was harvested, he found no spoilage or signs of rodent infestations.
Feikema is the first Rock County farmer to use the Loftness Grain Logix equipment in his operation.
“We were going to be way short on grain storage this year,” he said. “We thought we would give it a try.”
Storing the corn in bags was a less expensive option than erecting the traditional metal storage bins. It was also a better option than piling the grain directly on the ground, where it was open to weather elements and potential spoilage. The bags can also be placed in alternate locations from year to year.
Feikema said introduction to the alternative storage idea came via friends in Nebraska and Alabama, who used the bags.
The Loftness grain bagging system consists of two separate pieces of equipment. A bagger fills the polyethylene bags and a specially designed auger empties them.
Feikema found he finished harvest more quickly.
Instead of hauling the corn to an off-site bin, the corn was bagged near the field’s driveway for easy access and later removal. No drying of the grain was necessary this year.
“It’s very easy to use,” Feikema said.
According to the Loftness website, the baggers come in 10- and 12-foot widths. Costs range from $54,000 to $94,000. The equipment is manufactured in Hector, Minnesota.
Feikema said his costs of storing the grain in the field costs about 6 cents per bushel, about 3 cents less than his other storage options.
A 300-foot bag at the 10-foot width (commonly used by private producers) can hold up to 14,500 bushels, according to Loftness Inc. owner Dave Nelson.
“The beauty here is that the bagger and auger system can store 20,000 to 2 million bushels with the same cost in equipment,” he said.
Loftness Inc. began manufacturing the grain bagging equipment in 2008 as the first U.S. manufacturer of the product.
Nelson said sales were at first centralized to the Mississippi Delta region where producers began producing more grain than cotton. Because grain elevators were located near the ports, producers wanted a storage option closer to home to sell the grain at a later time.
Locally, Nelson said, producers like the storage flexibility, especially those who rent farmland where use of the land can be for only a year.
Grain bag storage is not a new concept, Nelson said. Producers in Canada have been using bags for more than 20 years.