Brad Lubben is an Extension Associate Professor, Policy Specialist, and Director of the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has nearly 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and extension, focusing on agricultural policy and agricultural economics and working in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska. Brad's expertise includes federal farm policy and agricultural policy development and risk management education. Brad grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Burr, southeast of Lincoln and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
Situation: I have a 27-foot diameter bin 18 feet to the eave. It has a full mesh floor but only a 5 HP aeration fan. I will need to dry corn in this bin this year.
The time required to dry grain in a bin is a function of the initial moisture content of the grain, the desired final moisture content of the grain, the temperature and relative humidity of the air passing through the grain and the rate of airflow through the grain (cubic feet per minute per bushel: cfm/bu).
Figure 1. A female Palmer amaranth plant in a corn field in southcentral Nebraska. This plant has capacity to produce more than half a million seeds.