Grain Handling

Farming is all about being resilient, and Mindy Orschell and her family have had to be just that as weather challenges impacted planting this spring.

Effective grain management is key to overcoming summer challenges, helping farmers preserve grain quality while giving them the flexibility to sell when market conditions are most favorable.

The Star in Agricultural Placement award will be presented during the Stars Over Illinois ceremony on Wednesday, June11.

The Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, now in its 12th year, showcases top entrepreneurs developing solutions to address both traditional and new challenges facing farmers and rural communities.

Indiana Farm Bureau members celebrated several legislative wins at the conclusion of the 2025 Indiana General Assembly.

Agricultural operations in Illinois have been significantly impacted by recent severe weather, tornadoes and flooding.

Experts discussed ways for farmers to fight fatigue during Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week.

While my husband has been busy putting a new floor in a grain bin and getting the planters ready, I have been working lots of overtime preparing farm and individual tax returns.

This year’s Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week was observed March 24-28. The national initiative aims to prevent injuries and save lives.

As they plan for 2025, many farmers will evaluate their grain storage needs. Whether due to farm expansion, higher yields or the need for improved efficiency, a new on-farm grain system may be the best solution.

There are five factors that lead to grain dust explosions: fuel, oxygen, a confined space, the dispersion of dust in the air and an ignition source.

A professor at Purdue University is using particle science to improve grain facility safety.

Lawmakers and farmers mingled at the Indiana Statehouse to enjoy a bacon brunch and discuss farm policies.

Loftness now offers a 12-foot Grain Bag Baler. It mounts to the 3-point hitch of a tractor and rolls up 9-, 10- or 12-foot diameter bags up to 500-feet long. It produces neat, tight bales that are easy to handle and fully prepped for recycling.

Harvest is completed and grain is in the bins, but there’s still work to be done.

Nationwide thanked the Redding Volunteer Fire Department and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council for their roles in the rescue of a man trapped in a grain bin at the beginning of the year.

The late planted corn was pretty disappointing on yields. The yields were still good, but nothing like the first half of the harvest season.

One of the obvious signs of a healthy, hardy corn crop can also present major headaches for those working in it.

Mark Seib, a grain farmer in southern Indiana, has finished soybean harvest and is closing in on corn.

Harvest is on pace for the Rahn family to finish earlier in 2024 than they have in many years.

This St. Joseph County village with a population of 2,076 is touted as the “Seed Corn Capital of the World” and the site of Bayer’s largest seed corn production facility.

Warm, dry weather is helping farmers in northern Illinois to quickly harvest corn and soybeans with little need to run the crops through a dryer prior to storage.

The water level of the Mississippi River is unusually low for the third straight year, forcing barge companies to put limits on how much cargo they can carry and cutting into farm profits.

Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.

Firestone Ag has introduced the high-performing Destination Cart radial tire, providing a heavy-duty grain cart tire designed to support soil health and fluctuating cart weights.

John Deere introduced the new T6 800 walker combine, offering operators outstanding harvesting performance and the ultimate operator experience.

GSI is introducing a new lineup of Mixed Flow dryers for the 2025 harvest season, designed to promote greater efficiency and maximize grain quality.

To help farmers harvest more acres with every engine hour, Case IH is launching the new AF9 and AF10 combines, redesigned from the ground up, to maximize capacity and crop flow.

I think the very earliest planted corn is getting close, but with the dry forecast, producers are probably taking advantage of in-field drying to get the moisture down so there’s not much drying expense.

You are so much more important than any crop you will ever harvest. Don’t get in a mad rush. Don’t cut corners.

I think we’re going to be better than last year for corn and soybean yields. I don’t have super high expectations, but it’s going to be good.

National Farm Safety and Health Week will be observed Sept. 15-21 this year. The theme, “Don’t Learn Safety by Accident,” encourages people to take a proactive approach to safety education.

Berkeley Boehne harvested an excellent wheat crop in July and his corn and soybean crops also look good at the start of August.

It seems like it’s forgotten to rain in the month of June for the last few years. It was great weather for wheat harvest. It was about as easy as a wheat harvest can get because the weather was so warm and dry.

Wet and hot conditions in northern Illinois are impacting crop growth, as well as providing an opportunity for increased disease pressure this year.

Southern Indiana native Clark Smith will serve as director of Indiana Grain Buyers and Warehouse Licensing Agency.

Berkeley Boehne and his brother, Vaughn, raise corn, soybeans and wheat on their DeKalb County farm, where they also feed pigs and operate a custom manure application business.

Five new officers elected by the delegates during the 96th Illinois FFA State Convention will be traveling throughout the state during the upcoming year engaging with members to inspire them to achieve their goals.

The Stars Over Illinois announcement of the top four FFA members in the state was just one of numerous highlights of the 96th Illinois FFA State Convention held in the state’s capital city.

We began plant 2024 in March, and we ended Friday, May 31. It was the longest planting season in my 50-year experience of planting. We have corn that is waist-high and some that is just peeping through the soil.

The winner of the Star in Agricultural Placement award will be announced during the Wednesday afternoon session of the Illinois FFA State Convention starting at 2 p.m.

Construction on a new GSI grain system is complete and the final touches are being made on a farm in Putnam County in west-central Indiana.

CHS has signed an intent to purchase agreement for eight grain assets in five states from Cargill.

Bruce and Linda Muegge lead their family farm with faith and a strong work ethic. They’ve worked hard to build the farm to what it is today — a successful corn, soybean, wheat and cattle operation with an on-farm meat store.

The 2023 U.S. corn crop is projected to be the largest on record with the lowest percentage of broken corn and foreign material to date, according to a report.

Tim Gauck is the new president of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, the state’s corn checkoff program.

We had a record week for harvesting of acres starting Saturday, Oct. 28, to Saturday, Nov. 4. Then we started to get full. Now we need to worry about trucking, so the focus has shifted. Plus, our dryer is getting backed up.

How can every harvest be so similar and yet completely different? The goal is always the same — get everything through the combine and into bins, and yet there are so many circumstances that come into play.

It’s been really pretty good harvest weather. On Oct. 9 and 10, it rained about two-tenths and that let everybody stop for a day and get caught up with maintenance and hauling some grain and that kind of stuff.

A milling company has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges that employees at a Wisconsin corn plant falsified records in the years leading up to a fatal corn dust explosion.