Stored grain management and fumigation program held December 12, 2013

Protection of grain quality in storage and fumigation will be the focus of this Michigan State University Extension meeting slated for Dec. 12 at the MSU Livestock Pavilion.

Producing high yielding, top quality grain is the business of field crop producers across Michigan. What happens to grain after it comes out of the field can be as important to profitability as all of the management that went into producing the crop. In order to market top quality grain, growers and elevator operators must manage factors that can impact grain quality in bins.

The management of stored grain will be the focus of a Michigan State University Extension program held at the MSU Livestock Pavilion, Dec. 12, 2013, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The program is being offered as part of a two program series along with the 2013 Integrated Crop and Pest Management Update, which will be held the following day at the MSU Pavilion. Participants are requested to register separately for these events.

This year’s featured speakers at the Stored Grain Management and Fumigation Program include Scott Chant, president of Safe Grain, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that designs grain storage systems for aeration, grain temperature management and detection of problems in stored grain quality. Chant is the current president of the Associates Board of Directors for the Grain Elevator and Processing Society, which serves as the “knowledge resource” for the grain handling industry. He will be discussing grain handling system design and proper aeration for optimal grain storage.

The program also will also feature presentations by Scott Williams, entomologist from the Purdue University Post-Harvest Grain Quality and Stored Product Protection Program. Williams will talk about stored grain insects, their lifecycles and management factors that can limit the potential for insect damage in stored grain. Ethan Estabrook and Mel Ulrich from Fumigation Services, an Indianapolis-based pest management company with a newly opened office in Michigan, will discuss the process, materials and procedures for using fumigants to manage insect populations if they become problematic in stored grain. Brian Rowe, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s pesticide program manager, will round out the agenda providing an overview of the changes to fumigation procedures outlined during EPA’s recent review of the fumigant labels.

Participants of this program will earn four RUP credits in fumigation, which provides enough RUP credits to allow for re-certification of the fumigation standard.

The cost for the program is $65 per person, which covers lunch and printed materials. A breakout session is being planned for growers that have a fumigation standard for soil fumigation.

Register online or call 269-657-8213. Online registration will remain open through Dec. 6. View the program flier for more information from each of the speaker’s websites.

For more information on this program, contact Bruce MacKellar at mackella@msu.edu or 269-657-8213, or Martin Nagelkirk at nagelkir@msu.edu or 810-684-2515.

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