Grain Dryers (Rice)

[Dumbastheycome]

About  a decade  ago I investigated the  options for small grain dryer available in Thailand. I could not  find a single one!

However  listed in China on several platforms there were several small mobile units at a reasonable  cost.

My interest  was due to the erratic weather presenting as an issue post rice harvest which observation over the prior  4  years indicated a practical need to ensure maximum crop yield value.

At that time I could not find an Import Agent  willing to facilitate the purchase . That despite that there is no  customs  import duty on agricultural machinery..

10 years on I can still not find a source or supplier of a grain drier inside Thailand.!

Nor  have  I seen any evidence of a community  facility  for  public use  to  dry annual rice crops. It seems the accepted  acommodation is the  dangerous practice of allowing the use of public  highways!

I am  now tempted  to  build my  own small scale drier . The mechanical  process is  basic enough  and the electronic moisture  sensoring  is  available  via pirating from  very  cheap  dehumidifiers !

Viva la Farmer! lol

[johnbarpic]

I’m no Farmer but in presume no market as the sun is a free resource for drying. Passing the rice factories I’ve seen they dry it in Huge yards in the sun Grain driers are more common in U.K. & Europe 

[Dumbastheycome]

1 hour ago, johnbarpic said:

I’m no Farmer but in presume no market as the sun is a free resource for drying. Passing the rice factories I’ve seen they dry it in Huge yards in the sun Grain driers are more common in U.K. & Europe 

I appreciate  your  reply. However what you have  observed is most likely a safe and inexpensive  moisture  balancing procedure  well into the  dry season which is  much less prone  to the inconvenience of the  weather conditions  immediately  after the harvest  urgency at source which is predominantly  small scale farmers  who must minimally  pre-condition  rice  before it will be accepted  by  intermediary  buyers .

Even then  what you  have  observed  may  not be a  drying  process  but instead a  bulk grading  process f the quality of  incoming  rice .  There is  rice  and there is  rice.

 

[farmerjo]

Are you looking for a batch or continuous flow dryer?

Diesel and Gas driers take a bit to set up so you don't dry to quick then suck the moisture back in.

Easiest way if you have a shed or storage pad and time,put down some old pvc pipes with air holes in them connect to a blower fan.

When humidity drops below certain number(forget now) turn on blower.

If you want hotter air,make a black plastic poly tunnel to feed the suction of blower.

[Dumbastheycome]

4 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Are you looking for a batch or continuous flow dryer?

Diesel and Gas driers take a bit to set up so you don't dry to quick then suck the moisture back in.

Easiest way if you have a shed or storage pad and time,put down some old pvc pipes with air holes in them connect to a blower fan.

When humidity drops below certain number(forget now) turn on blower.

If you want hotter air,make a black plastic poly tunnel to feed the suction of blower.

My theoretical plan is to devise something that is reasonably  mobile and using an auger  to lift the rice to an elevated spreader for a cascade or "waterfall" to increase exposure to air drying between mesh screens in  a recycling  process. I can get  augers from old harvesters and construct a  bin  from sheet metal. If I get to a point where it is mechanically  functional a blower and humidity level sensors could  be  added.

I have a year to  play  anyway. lol

[RichCor]

Hmm, interesting reading

 

Rice Knowledge Bank

Step-by-Step Production; Harvesting, Drying, Storage

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

[IsaanAussie]

5 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

My theoretical plan is to devise something that is reasonably  mobile and using an auger  to lift the rice to an elevated spreader for a cascade or "waterfall" to increase exposure to air drying between mesh screens in  a recycling  process. I can get  augers from old harvesters and construct a  bin  from sheet metal. If I get to a point where it is mechanically  functional a blower and humidity level sensors could  be  added.

I have a year to  play  anyway. lol

Like you I looked at drying rice about 10 years ago. I used to take that part of our harvest for sale to the rice merchant and watch the basic moisture checking process. The difference in price was small compared with the cost of make/buying a drier. I looked at solar drying and using the heat from a rice husk carboniser. For our volume the numbers did not stack up. I looked at supplying the service to locals, but there was no interest.

We use blue happa nets and spread the rice, we do not use a road surface but a well drained area in the village.

 

If you can get this to work at anything like a cost benefit, please let me know.  

[Dumbastheycome]

18 minutes ago, IsaanAussie said:

Like you I looked at drying rice about 10 years ago. I used to take that part of our harvest for sale to the rice merchant and watch the basic moisture checking process. The difference in price was small compared with the cost of make/buying a drier. I looked at solar drying and using the heat from a rice husk carboniser. For our volume the numbers did not stack up. I looked at supplying the service to locals, but there was no interest.

We use blue happa nets and spread the rice, we do not use a road surface but a well drained area in the village.

 

If you can get this to work at anything like a cost benefit, please let me know.  

Yes, we too  use the conventional method of  nets on open ground. And take a  sample  for  moisture content  checks. Some  years that has been a problem due to weather.

Have never known  what price would be offered  for unconditioned  rice . To be honest never thought buyers around  here  would  want due to their own issues  in coping with  volumes .Maybe they  pass it on to the  bigger dealers because  in a  bulk form it  sweats and heats  very  fast !

Irrelevant in our situation  anyway because  my wife  has a restaurant that  most years  ends up  consuming  the entire Hom Mali production of  6 rai and then  some ! So it is very important  to that  concern the rice is  stored  in as good condition as can be achieved. A little different to those who  just  need/want to  flick it off as quick as possible .

So my interest is tri-fold at  very least. Defeating the  weather, preserving value, and  giving myself something to do  while the weeds  grow. lol

 

[kickstart]

A good idea by the op ,wives son-in-law and daughter havered they rice last week ,sod's  law had its part ,they had the combine booked ,then we had some heavy rain showers (stopped our grass silage making for 2 days),they waited for one day then harvested they crop .

In another thread I said they were looking at 15 000 baht/ton for their  crop ,they harvested they crop, and got........9100 baht/ton what the moisture was I do not know, and I am certain they did not know either must have been 35%,hence the low price

I said why did they not wait for a few days ,for the crop to dry out ,they said they would lose their  place in the combine queue and would have to wait for a while ,then the crop would dry out and shed the seeds ,which I think would not happen for a while.

like most rice farmers in this area ,they harvest today and sell the crop tomorrow ,even if they were a dryer I do not think they would use it ,they just think of selling they crop soon as it is combined .

Sounds if the op is thinking of a mobile batch dryer ,I would say that he would need some heat ,like gas burners ,take son-in-law ,for safe storage in any amount of bulk the crop has to be about 15% moisture  ,his crop at 35 % moisture will take some drying  with your idea you will be circulating one crop for a long time .

I would go for farmerjo's on the floor system  with pipes and fans ,we had that in the UK one shed had 500 ton in just one big fan and a lot of ducts .

Wife said son-in-law has spent the last 4 days drying  about one ton of rice he is keeping back for next  seed year's, just using a  concrete  pad and a rake to turn it over, steady .

 

 

[OOTAI]

22 hours ago, kickstart said:

 

In another thread I said they were looking at 15 000 baht/ton for their  crop ,they harvested they crop, and got........9100 baht/ton what the moisture was I do not know, and I am certain they did not know either must have been 35%,hence the low price

I said why did they not wait for a few days ,for the crop to dry out ,they said they would lose their  place in the combine queue and would have to wait for a while ,then the crop would dry out and shed the seeds ,which I think would not happen for a while.

like most rice farmers in this area ,they harvest today and sell the crop tomorrow ,even if they were a dryer I do not think they would use it ,they just think of selling they crop soon as it is combined .

Wife said son-in-law has spent the last 4 days drying  about one ton of rice he is keeping back for next  seed year's, just using a  concrete  pad and a rake to turn it over, steady .

 

 

 

A couple of years ago I did some tests (very simple ones) on some of our rice because I just wanted to do a bit of a check on the moisture content because the rice mills deducted the moisture when we sold it direct tot hem from the paddy.  I thought that they were taking a bit too much off, anyway I came up with a loss of around 23% in between straight from the paddy and sun dried rice. the rice would have still had some moisture in it so 30% is not unreasonable for the Mills to deduct.

 

Kickstart as for your comment re 1500B/tonne, I think that would have been wishful thinking on someone's part. The Missus said that the mills were paying between 8B and 9B per kilo this year but that has now gone down to 7B/kg so if your wife's SIL got 9.1B/kg he did OK.

 

End result is the Missus is paying some of her family to sun dry the rice on nets on the ground and then storing it to either use later or sell later.  The only good thing I have to say is this year seems to be the best crop for quite some time.

 

I honestly don't know why anyone would dry rice if they intend to sell it straight away, just take straight from the paddy to the mill.

[kickstart]

19 minutes ago, OOTAI said:

 

A couple of years ago I did some tests (very simple ones) on some of our rice because I just wanted to do a bit of a check on the moisture content because the rice mills deducted the moisture when we sold it direct tot hem from the paddy.  I thought that they were taking a bit too much off, anyway I came up with a loss of around 23% in between straight from the paddy and sun dried rice. the rice would have still had some moisture in it so 30% is not unreasonable for the Mills to deduct.

 

Kickstart as for your comment re 1500B/tonne, I think that would have been wishful thinking on someone's part. The Missus said that the mills were paying between 8B and 9B per kilo this year but that has now gone down to 7B/kg so if your wife's SIL got 9.1B/kg he did OK.

 

End result is the Missus is paying some of her family to sun dry the rice on nets on the ground and then storing it to either use later or sell later.  The only good thing I have to say is this year seems to be the best crop for quite some time.

 

I honestly don't know why anyone would dry rice if they intend to sell it straight away, just take straight from the paddy to the mill.

It was SIL that said 15K ton ,that was if the government  suberized the rice farmers ,they do most years , but with COVID and the fall in the economy this year  it might not happen.

Wives daughter said today they did not know what the moisture of they crop was, no one checked it before harvest .

Why dry rice ,to get a better price most people think that rice buyers are the devil in disguise ,but they have to dry rice down to 15% to sell it or store it any higher it will heat up ,mould could appear and it will spoil the crop ,and they could have a rice store of rice only fit for cattle feed .

If a buyer buys rice at 30 % moisture ,he has to dry that down, or he will lose money ,OK he will thrash the rice out and sell the rice bran (now about 9-10baht kg)and the husks for a few baht.

I have wondered if a rice farmer kept his crop to say the New Year would he get a better price than ,as we used to say selling it off the back of the combine .

I think I am right in saying the government is paying 8baht /kg for corn at 15 % moisture ,most farmers in this area will harvest the corn at 30% moisture ,and  get 5.50-6 baht/kg .on a percentage that is almost a 30% difference ,like your rice 

Some farmers say sell the crop to dry you will lose money ,with a low bushel weight , sell it at a  higher   moisture and get less per kg, swings and roundabouts .

We have a new company farm in the area with3-400 rie of corn ,yet to harvest any of it ,I would say they are looking at the governments 8baht/kg.

[RichCor]

Ugh.

 

Cabinet okays price-guarantee scheme for rice farmers
theNation | Nov 10. 2020

 

Ratchada Dhnadirek, deputy government spokesperson, said on Tuesday that under the scheme, the price per tonne of rice will be guaranteed at Bt15,000 for jasmine, Bt14,000 for off-season jasmine, Bt10,000 for ordinary rice, Bt11,000 for Pathum Thani rice and Bt12,000 for sticky rice.

 

 

Rice exports likely to drop 50% this year, situation could even worsen in 2021
theNation | Nov 05. 2020

 

due to drought, the cost of rice production is Bt8,000 per tonne, while other rice producing countries such as China, Vietnam, India and Myanmar are witnessing a cost of around Bt6,000 per tonne.

 

 

Strong baht, low production pull down Thai rice exports
theNation | Econ | Oct 05. 2020

 

The price of Thai white rice is currently around US$490 per tonne, compared to Vietnamese white rice at $460 per tonne, Indian at $370 per tonne and Myanmar at $420 per tonne. White rice accounts for 50 per cent of Thailand’s total rice exports.

 

 

Vietnam imports may drag down Thai rice to Bt5,000 per tonne
theNation | Feb 20. 2020

 

 

[OOTAI]

11 hours ago, kickstart said:

It was SIL that said 15K ton ,that was if the government  suberized the rice farmers ,they do most years , but with COVID and the fall in the economy this year  it might not happen.

 

I have wondered if a rice farmer kept his crop to say the New Year would he get a better price than ,as we used to say selling it off the back of the combine .

 

Some farmers say sell the crop to dry you will lose money ,with a low bushel weight , sell it at a  higher   moisture and get less per kg, swings and roundabouts .

 

kickstart

Unfortunately government subsidising rice production has caused a few people to believe in the tooth fairy.

It also got a few into trouble, ask a previous female prime minister how it went.

 

My Missus has quite often kept the rice hoping for a "better" price at a later date, I honestly don't know if it was ever successful or not. I suppose it was when the government paid a subsidy for people to store the rice rather than sell it straight from the paddy which was meant to prevent a glut of rice coming on the market.

 

I have had discussions with a few people about what "moisture content" actually means and I think it is less painful to hit your head on the brick wall.  Most of the time Thai rice farmers sell their rice straight out of the paddy to get some cash to pay some bills. My Missus does some contract harvesting and she tells me that she will get paid once they (the people whose rice she harvested) sell the rice. They also try and keep some for their own personal consumption throughout the following year and that can amount to quite a lot of rice.

[cooked]

25 minutes ago, OOTAI said:

kickstart

Unfortunately government subsidising rice production has caused a few people to believe in the tooth fairy.

It also got a few into trouble, ask a previous female prime minister how it went.

 

My Missus has quite often kept the rice hoping for a "better" price at a later date, I honestly don't know if it was ever successful or not. I suppose it was when the government paid a subsidy for people to store the rice rather than sell it straight from the paddy which was meant to prevent a glut of rice coming on the market.

 

I have had discussions with a few people about what "moisture content" actually means and I think it is less painful to hit your head on the brick wall.  Most of the time Thai rice farmers sell their rice straight out of the paddy to get some cash to pay some bills. My Missus does some contract harvesting and she tells me that she will get paid once they (the people whose rice she harvested) sell the rice. They also try and keep some for their own personal consumption throughout the following year and that can amount to quite a lot of rice.

.... just goes to show how things vary from region to region. Some rice does get sold immediately, the guys that have lent money for fertiliser etc know when the harvest is done and rightly demand instant repayment. But in general here in Isaan we store as much rice as possible, especially this year when the indicated price at our local mill is ฿9.40 / Kg ! 

Nobody here understands the working of the promised government subsidy yet, but at this price nobody wants to sell.

Looks like a good harvest, apart from some that got dirty due to flooding. 

[Dumbastheycome]

There is a gross  misunderstanding  about the  Government  guaranteed  price. That price is what the  Government  Rice  Store Authority  pays for  graded rice which is forwarded to them  by local intermediary  buyers/mills. It is a matter of opinion as to whether or  not the price they pay to primary producer farmers is reasonable !

In my own quest for feasible economic solutions  I discovered quite comprehensive entry  this  which provides  not   just some ideas  but at end some  very significant  information  about the impact of  methodology re' quality !

 

http://www.fao.org/3/T1838E/T1838E0T.HTM#Introduction

[Dumbastheycome]

Apology  for those who have interest. The following link  is where I  intended.http://www.fao.org/3/T1838E/T1838E0V.htm

[kickstart]

Interesting paper ,with some work done at the AIT in Bangkok ,that natural convection solar dryer looks promising ,but most of the work was done back in the 80's .

Did it die a death here in LOS, or is it still about. 

[RichCor]

Oy

 

Kalasin: Farmers overwhelmed by losses as price of rice falls to just Bt6 per kilo
ThaiVisa News | By webfact, 7 hours ago in Isaan News Forum