QUIZ – Storage risks

1. Frost has locked in a fairly high level of green in canola seeds. Can a farmer count on that green to go down in storage?

2. A few days of aeration is recommended for all canola, even if the moisture meter say it’s “dry”. One reason for this conditioning step is to cool the grain and even-out the temperature throughout the bin. What is the other one?

3. Canola is combined at 15 per cent moisture content, which is well above the safe storage recommendation of eight per cent. So the canola goes into an aeration bin with autumn air blowing through the grain at an airflow rate of 0.2 cubic feet per minute per bushel (cfm/bu.). Roughly when will this stored canola reach eight per cent moisture?

4. In a Canola Digest article, CCC storage specialist Angela Brackenreed talks about the connection between air temperature and moisture removal. To show the significance of warm air, Angela says 18°C air removes moisture ___ times faster than 10°C air.

5. Stored grain insects – like rusty grain beetles, to give one familiar example – are not a problem in canola in Canada. The bigger storage issue is probably from insects that come into the bin with the harvested canola. What is the potential issue with these insects?