Grain storage: one of the last frontiers in the introduction of new technologies

Conab recently announced that the 2024/25 summer harvest is expected to produce 327 million tons of grains and fibers. While these figures reveal the capacity of the production sector to increase its production from within the farm gate, they also once again reveal a deficiency in the grain storage infrastructure. Harvest after harvest, it is possible to see the gap between production and the installed capacity of silos and warehouses, which currently stands at only 124 million tons, according to Conab's own estimate. What is striking is that the prospect of reducing this gap is very small, since the growth of units installed in Brazil over the last 10 years has been only 2% per year. And, surprisingly, even if there are resources from the Federal Government to stimulate the acquisition of silos and warehouses, it is not possible to increase this index due to the installed capacity of the entire industry that operates in this sector.

Although the country is at the forefront of grain production such as soybeans, corn and wheat, where digital transformation is already present in areas such as planting, harvesting and transportation, the storage sector is still slow in its journey towards adopting new technologies. One of the first challenges is precisely the fact that the storage structure is often old and in need of modernization. Another factor is the low qualification of the workforce to operate this equipment. In addition, there is a certain resistance on the part of producers who have warehouses or silos to adopt equipment that improves efficiency, because, in general, they only see this as a cost, not realizing the gain that this investment brings. In addition, the persistence in the use of traditional practices increases the risk of losses, which normally revolve around 3% per harvest, of everything that is stored. As a result, producers face difficulties in maintaining the quality of the grains, directly impacting their net income.

The technological revolution in storage

In the early 2000s, a technology brought by research changed some concepts in agricultural production; Precision Agriculture. AP is a technique that uses advanced technologies to collect and process agricultural data, with the aim of

The aim of this project was to improve production management on the farm. Since its introduction, many new pieces of equipment have been created to meet demand and satisfy customers. Today, the use of Precision Agriculture is consolidated.

It is interesting to note that this movement also brought changes to the field. New seed varieties and more efficient planting and harvesting equipment have reduced the work period. Today, for example, the harvesting process is much faster than it was 10 years ago. This efficiency is extremely positive. However, it has brought a problem to the storage area, which has not kept up with the developments in the field through the introduction of technologies, even management technologies. As a result, there is a gap between the two areas, often causing a traffic jam of trucks that have to wait in line to unload the grains, because the drying or storage area is overloaded. Conclusion? If precision agriculture is already in place in the field, why is it that we are not at this level in storage?

Because there is a lack of adoption of technologies that improve the entire process, both in terms of capacity and management, in addition to research and development of these technologies so that they can be offered to the market. We currently have automation systems for controlling the internal temperature of the grain mass that can be viewed remotely and allow for the automatic operation of the aeration process, transport and drying flows.

And even though many technologies already exist, their adoption faces resistance ranging from a lack of knowledge to adopt them to operators trained to use them properly. What is certain is that the sooner they begin to be installed in storage, the better results will be obtained when it comes to marketing the grains.

By Everton Rorato, director of PCE Engineering