Wet harvest conditions are proving challenging for cereal growers in Canterbury and elsewhere in New Zealand. FAR and PGG Wrightson have outlined some options for dealing with sprouted crops. See below.
Wet harvest conditions are proving challenging for cereal growers in Canterbury and elsewhere in New Zealand and there are widespread reports of sprouting across the regions. With the unpredictable weather set to continue over the coming weeks, growers are facing difficult decisions around harvesting high moisture content grain and whether or not grain needs to be dried.
Every grower is weighing up a number of farm and business specific factors into their harvesting decision. However, the following points are worth considering.
- If grain will require drying…
- Don’t harvest out-of-condition grain until you have confirmed that seed drying facilities are available. High moisture content grain can deteriorate very quickly in storage.
- Monitor grain carefully during this period and be prepared to move it from silo to silo to prevent the formation of hot spots.
FAR has compiled a flow chart to assist with decision making on what to do with sprouted cereal grain. The flow chart contains links to some overseas information (simply hover over the information box of interest and click), which will need to be considered for New Zealand conditions. Further information can be found in The Drying and Storage of Grain and Herbage Seeds, 1999, edited by Murray Hill.
Pre-harvest sprouting grain - PGG Wrightson technical information sheet