MOUNT VERNON — The upcoming installation of a new 76-foot-tall drier assembly will complete the yearlong, $1 million equipment upgrade the Central Ohio Farmers Co-op has been going through since last fall.
“We’re looking at some additional storage in the future,” said Phil Pearce, manager of the co-op, “but this will basically finish the phase in of new equipment.”
The first part of the process was the new loading system installed last fall, which cost about $250,000. Pearce said the system has more than doubled loading efficiencies.
“In the time it used to take us to load one rail car, we can do two now, sometimes more,” he said.
The current phase of the upgrade involves alterations to the elevator’s intake system. Part of the grain-receiving “leg” of conveyer belts has been replaced. At 110 feet, the receiving leg is the tallest part of the elevator. The wet leg, which is not being replaced, moves new grain to the new drier, which will stand beside the receiving leg, about 76 feet tall.
The drier has a burner and a large blower to channel hot air through the grain, drying it to an ideal storage level of 15 percent or less moisture. The new dry leg will then take the grain back to the storage bins. The upgrades to the intake system will cost about $750,000.
Pearce said that in a typical year, the cooperative typically sees about 100,000 bushels of wheat, 400,000 bushels of soybeans, and 1.7 million bushels of corn. The co-op then sells the grains contributed by its member farmers to a variety of buyers. Pearce noted the co-op has sold some corn to the ethanol plant in Coshocton, but said that amount has gone way down as ethanol plants nationwide have cut back production due to the recent high cost of corn.
