Impact of the Corn Market Channel on Quality
While the U.S. corn industry strives to prevent or minimize the loss of physical and sanitary quality as corn moves from the farm to export, there are points in the system where quality changes inevitably occur due to the biological nature of the grain. The following sections provide some insight on why corn quality may change as corn moves from the field to the vessel or railcar.
Drying and Conditioning
Farmers often harvest corn at moisture contents ranging from about 18 to 30%. This range of moisture contents exceeds safe storage levels, which are usually about 13 to 14%. Thus, wet corn at harvest must be dried to a lower moisture content to become safe for storage and transport. Conditioning is the use of aeration fans to control temperatures and moisture content, both of which are important to monitor for storage stability. Drying and conditioning may occur either on a farm or at a commercial facility. When corn is dried, it can be dried by systems using natural air, low-temperature or high-temperature drying methods. High-temperature drying methods will often create more stress cracks in the corn and ultimately lead to more breakage during handling than natural air or low-temperature drying methods. However, high-temperature drying is often needed to facilitate timely harvesting of grain.
Storage and Handling
In the United States, corn storage structures can be broadly categorized as upright metal bins, concrete silos, flat storage inside buildings or flat storage in on-ground piles. Upright bins and concrete silos with fully perforated floors or in-floor ducts are the most easily managed storage types, as they allow aeration with uniform airflow throughout the grain. Flat storage can be used for short-term storage. This occurs most often when corn production is higher than normal and surplus storage is needed. However, it is more difficult to install adequate aeration ducts in flat types of storage, and they often do not provide uniform aeration. In addition, on-ground piles are sometimes not covered and may be subjected to weather elements that can result in mold damage.
Handling equipment can involve vertical conveying by bucket elevators and/or horizontal conveying, usually by belt or en masse conveyors. Regardless of how the corn is handled, some corn breakage will occur. The rate of breakage will vary by types of equipment used, severity of the grain impacts, grain temperature, moisture content and by corn quality factors such as stress cracks or hardness of endosperm. As breakage levels increase, more fines (broken pieces of corn) are created, which leads to less uniformity in aeration and ultimately to higher risk for fungal invasion and insect infestation.
Cleaning
Cleaning corn involves scalping or removing large non-corn material and sieving to remove small, shriveled kernels, broken pieces of kernels and fine material. This process reduces the amount of broken kernels and foreign material (BCFM) found in the corn. The potential for breakage and initial percentages of broken kernels, along with the desired grade factor, dictate the amount of cleaning needed to meet contract specifications. Cleaning can occur at any stage of the market channel where cleaning equipment is available.
Transporting Corn
The U.S. grain transportation system is arguably one of the most efficient in the world. It begins with farmers transporting their grain from the field to on-farm storage or commercial grain facilities using either large wagons or trucks. Corn is then transported by truck, rail or barge to its next destination. Once at export facilities, corn is loaded onto vessels or railcars. As a result of this complex yet flexible transportation system, corn may be loaded and unloaded several times, increasing its susceptibility to broken kernels and breakage.
Corn quality changes during shipment in much the same manner as it changes during storage. Causes of these changes include moisture variability (non-uniformity) and moisture migration due to temperature differences, high humidity and air temperature, fungal invasion and insect infestation. However, there are some factors affecting grain transportation that make quality control during transport more difficult than in fixed storage facilities. First, there are few modes of transport equipped with aeration, and as a result, corrective actions for heating and moisture migration cannot take place during transport. Another factor is the accumulation of fine material (spout lines) beneath the loading spout when loading railcars, barges and vessels. This results in whole kernels tending to roll to the outer sides, while fine material segregates in the center. A similar segregation occurs during the unloading process at each step along the way to the final destination.
Implications on Quality
The intrinsic quality attributes, such as oil, protein and starch concentrations, remain essentially unchanged in a corn kernel, assuming negligible kernel respiration or mold damage. However, as corn moves through the U.S. corn market channel, corn from multiple sources is mixed together. As a result, the average for a given intrinsic quality characteristic is affected by the quality levels of the corn from multiple sources. The above-described marketing and transportation activities inevitably alter various physical and sanitary quality characteristics. The quality characteristics that can be directly affected include test weight, damaged kernels, broken kernels, stress crack levels, moisture content and variability, foreign material and mycotoxin levels.