Return to Canola Council Home
Growers need to check their bins and grain-storage bags, even if canola was dry when it went in. With the warmer than usual April, many areas report some level of heating in storage facilities. When spring sunshine warms the outside of the bin, warm air moves up near the outside wall and down through the centre of the grain mass. The cooler canola in the centre of the bin reabsorbs moisture, creating an area of higher moisture and temperature that is prone to rapid spoilage. (The diagram shows how warm outside air shifts air movement inside the bin.) For bins without aeration and temperature monitoring cables, growers are encouraged to turn the grain by augering one third of the canola out of the bin. With this method, growers get a look at the condition of the stored product, and it interrupts any increase in temperature and moisture in the central core.
