Farming can be dangerous. One of the riskiest jobs is grain monitoring. Now a Scottish startup has designed a way to inspect piles of kernels—no peril necessary.
For grain farmers, providing good grain doesn’t end with a good harvest. If farmers want to send quality grain to market, they must perform regular monitoring of bins and silos. That’s because grain freshness and quality require ideal temperature and humidity levels.
Crop scientist Zachary Larson says problems often occur during grain storage. Heat and moisture can attract bacteria and fungi. Get too much moisture in your silo, and you’ll end up with a soggy, fermented, sometimes moldy mash that’s fit only for animal consumption. Rotting grain attracts more insects.
To avoid crop loss, farmers must monitor grain stores as often as once per month. The monitoring involves temperature and moisture probes as well as using a device for detecting insects and mold.
Remember when Joseph collected grain? Genesis records that he stored so much “like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.” (41:49) Joseph’s grain may not have suffered from the corrupting factors that today’s farmers must watch for—since God planned to use the grain to save the Egyptians and Joseph’s entire family with it.
Until recently, farmers had to take core samples from multiple places in the stored grain to test conditions. The tests involved sending a human to step onto the unstable heap and sample with a spear, according to agricultural engineer Lorenzo Conti.
“The main way of monitoring grain bulks at the moment is still sending a person to physically walk on top of the grain bulks, which is very dangerous to do because [of the risk of] grain entrapment and grain engulfment,” says Conti. It’s a challenging process that can also prove fatal, he says. “A lot of companies do not do any monitoring or sampling at all because of the dangers involved.”
Conti founded Crover, a grain storage management company. He invented a t-shaped robotic grain-monitor. It’s a faster, safer, better way to inspect grain. Conti believes the “world’s first granular drone” could change food storage and perhaps even save lives.
Crover’s ’bot moves in grain as if swimming through water or burrowing in sand. It measures for temperature and humidity and can help reduce losses, maintain proper storage conditions, and automate grain monitoring.
Using the old method, sampling grain stores can take days. Crover’s robot can 3-D map the pile’s moisture and temperature levels in a fraction of that time.
Conti says, “The main purpose of the robot is to make sure that the same quality of grain that goes into storage is the one that comes out.”
Why? Finding ways to do jobs better and more safely is a meaningful study. Someday, you might come up with a discovery that helps saves lives or makes life more pleasant.
