Fort Madison Daily Democrat, IA
009-19-06
Area farmers eyeing corn moisture levels, drying costs
The Daily Democrat
DONNELLSON - While non-agricultural residents are pondering the heating
costs for this winter, farmers who plant corn have an immediate concern,
according to Lee County Extension Director Bob Dodds.
“Corn harvest is just in the beginning stages here in Lee County,” Dodds said.
“With the high cost of propane, farmers are closely monitoring moisture content
of the grain before starting the combine as grain drying costs are having a great
impact on total crop production costs,” he said.
Dodds has fielded several phone calls about how much it costs to dry a bushel of
corn from a moisture content of 25 percent to, for example, 15 percent.
“I would encourage growers to look at previous years farm records,” Dodds said.
He said to calculate the cost of drying, producers should consider the cost of gas,
as well as the cost of electricity to run fans, the labor to manage the drying
system, depreciation, taxes, insurance and repairs and maintenance on the
drying equipment.
The amount of gas used by gas-fired corn dryers, Dodds said, varies widely with
the type of dryer, how the dryer is managed, corn moisture level and the weather
at the time of drying. The best source of information on gas use is a producer's
historical use records for each moisture percentage point removed.
“A very rough estimate of gas use for gas-fired drying is 0.02 gallons of liquid
petroleum per bushel per percentage point of moisture removed,” Dodds said.
“When five percentage points of moisture are removed, you could expect to use
0.1 gallons of LP per bushel.
The Iowa State University Extension office has a reference book called
Managing Dry Grain Storage and a spreadsheet called “Grain Drying Cost
Calculator.” The calculator takes into consideration the producer's costs of
propane, electricity, interest rate, labor rate, dryer efficiency and capacity.
Dodds encourages farmers to check grain dryers and bins for safety and to
complete maintenance checks to assure the equipment is operating at peak
performance to minimize drying costs.
For more information, contact Dodds at the Lee County Extension Office at 8355116.