Understanding EMC to Achieve Moisture Targets
At OPI-integris, we go by the old saw "in that grain
is sold by weight, water is money". So why not
capture the maximum allowable moisture content when selling your
grain? There are a number of ways to achieve this:
- Harvesting earlier at higher moisture contents, which helps you
control the dry-down process between the drier and in the bin in
order to dry down to the ideal moisture content at the lowest
energy cost.
- Operating fans solely for the purpose of quality control with
zero tolerance on
shrink.
- Rehydrating when possible, given the right climatic conditions
and sufficient airflow, time and the appropriate strategy should
grain become drier than target.
- Establishing the most efficient conditioning and blending
program with a complete moisture monitoring and control system such
as IntegrisPro, along with the OPI-integris moisture Cable and
Integris ProModel modeling program.
To manage grain moisture manually, or ideally with IntegrisPro,
it's essential to understand the principle of
Equilibrium Moisture
Content (EMC). EMC is based on the premise
that given sufficient exposure to the right quality of air over
time, grain will equilibrate to its surrounding environment.
It's therefore essential to aerate when ambient conditions,
and subsequently plenum conditions (considering fan warming and/or
heaters), are factored in to drive grain moisture to the desired
target. The following calculator will enable you to decide when to
turn fans on and off for best results.
EMC
Calculator
It is very important to factor in grain moisture and temperature
as it relates to safe storage over time so that grain quality is
not compromised through this process that can take months to
complete (refer to the Safe Storage charts in the Grain Storage
Management Best Practices.)