Grain storage in Brazil will be highlighted at the Brazilian Soy Congress

Brazil has the capacity to store 160 of the 230 million tons of grains produced in the 2017/2018 harvest, which reveals a gap in silos and warehouses. Soy alone accounts for 117 million tons of Brazilian production. To discuss the various aspects involving grain storage, Embrapa Soja will promote a debate on the topic during the VIII Brazilian Soy Congress, to be held from June 11th to 14th, at the Goiânia Convention Center. “This year, the gap in static storage capacity in Brazil was alleviated, because the value of soybeans is competitive and the producer is selling production more quickly. This fact is facilitating the flow of the harvest and reducing the storage period”, says Embrapa Soja researcher, Irineu Lorini.

The panel on storage will feature a lecture on how the production sector is using process automation to optimize storage logistics and ensure greater product quality. The topic will be taught by the representative of the Comigo cooperative, Paulo Carneiro Junqueira. Another lecture will be on the industrial use of soy, which will be given by Caramuru professional, Rogerio Fernandes Balieiro. 

Soy quality 

During the panel, a study by Embrapa Soja (PR) will also be presented, carried out with the production sector, which monitored the quality of soybeans in the last three harvests. Almost a thousand samples were collected and evaluated in different Brazilian states. “This monitoring reveals how some production practices can improve or worsen the quality of the grain and seed sold. By knowing these aspects in depth, we can help Brazil reach new levels of quality”, explains Irineu Lorini, researcher at Embrapa Soja. 

The survey provides important support for the adoption of improvements in the production process and storage. Lorini explains that, for example, damaged grains were evaluated - the sum of moldy, burnt, burnt, fermented, immature, stale, germinated and stink bug-damaged grains. Brazilian legislation determines, for example, that the store must tolerate up to 8% of damaged grains, but there are Brazilian regions where samples showed up to 30% of damaged grains. “These cases represent losses for the producer, because the storer can deduct the percentage that is damaged, since this material is of low quality for the industry”, says Lorini. “So we still have a long way to go,” he explains.

Another aspect that caught the attention of researchers was the rate of damage caused by stink bugs to soybeans. There are regions where samples ranged from 25% to 35% of grain damaged by the pest. “This indicates that it is necessary to invest more in Integrated Pest Management in soybean crops to reduce this rate”, says Lorini. “I also highlight the high level of mechanical damage and some grain defects. Therefore, it is necessary to improve harvesting and processing management to reduce this damage”, he recommends.
 
Protein content 

Regarding soy protein content, the national average was 37% in the 2016/17 harvest, with a variation between 32 and 41% in the microregions of each state. The higher the protein content in the grains, the better it will be for the production of bran with the minimum protein content required by legislation, reaching the ideal level for the production of bran with a high protein content. “The higher the protein content in the grains used as raw material to produce bran, the smaller the processes used by the industry to adapt to standards”, explains the researcher.