Canola is heating in bins!

A spike in heated canola has been reported over the past couple weeks. Growers are encouraged to check all canola bins as soon as possible. Spoilage usually starts small and heating is not always detected by temperature cables until some of the grain is already damaged. Cooling the bin and stopping this early heating now can save a lot of money in lost grade and lost delivery options.

Reasons for the increase in heated canola so far this year are wide ranging. They include hot harvest in August, high moisture at binning, green weed seeds and green canola seeds. Cool temperatures, rainfall and high humidity conditions experienced at harvest for a lot of later-seeded canola this year increased many of these risk factors. (Top 10 risky situations for canola storage)

What to do? Transfer of canola from one bin to another is the best way to detect heating. Hand probing through doors or roof hatches is unreliable for finding hot spots near the core of the bin. When transferring, move at least one third of the canola out of a bin. If green counts, moisture, weeds or dockage are high (in short, anything that may increase the storage risk), transferring the whole bin may be safest. Feel and smell the canola as it comes out of the bin. If canola has started to spoil, start looking for delivery options. Many of the companies on this list will buy heated canola.