Master of Agribusiness / Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze whether the use of automated aeration systems for reducing moisture in corn during storage provides sufficient net present value for Nebraska corn farmers. The objective is to examine if an automated aeration system provides sufficient energy savings, marketing opportunities and reduced drying costs before corn delivery to an elevator. On-the-farm corn storage has steadily increased and harvesting corn before the moisture has achieved the desired targets cost farmers in drying charges and shrink. Farmers are interested in whether automated aeration systems can remove enough moisture from grain, without over-drying the bin, without spending a large amount of time determining when to run their grain bin aeration fans. Data for this project were obtained from four privately owned 60,000 bushel grain bins outfitted with the IntelliAir™ BinManager™ automated aeration system. Moisture samples were taken from each of the trucks hauling grain to the bin and again after removal of the corn after the automated system had ran for 9 months. Energy usage, drying charges, and shrink were calculated for the initial corn moisture averages and the moisture at the time of removal. Each bin was examined using Net Present Value (NPV) analysis to determine whether the energy savings were enough to offset the initial installation cost and annual expenses of the project. After the NPV was estimated for each of the bins, a sensitivity analysis of how corn price changes and no aeration required would affect the NPV analysis. Finally, an analysis of the total costs savings of a continuously ran aeration system was compared to the automated aeration system. The conclusion of the NPV analysis was that adding an automated aeration system would be profitable under most scenarios. More studies are needed to determine the profitability of automated aeration systems in different regions, moisture inputs, and bin sizes.

This thesis is composed of two essays that investigate whole farm planning and crop marketing in western Kentucky. In the first essay, contracting decisions between food corn producers and a mill are analyzed to observe factors affecting the bushel amount farmers contract. Unbalanced panel data containing seven years’ worth of pricing and contract information are used with a fixed-effects model to generate parameter estimates and quantify their effect on bushels contracted. It was found that contract attributes, market condition, and relationship-specific assets had a significant effect on producers’ food corn contracting decisions. The second essay utilizes mixed-integer programming to optimize resource allocation and marketing strategy for a hypothetical farm. Post-optimal analysis is performed to determine non-binding capacities for drying and storage equipment. The model is re-run with these non-binding capacities to observe changes in net returns as well as planting, harvesting, and marketing strategies. New equipment and associated costs are identified, and the change in net returns from the base case is used as net cash flow in a net present value investment analysis. Results of the investment analysis indicate increasing drying and storage capacity is a wise investment given the scenario modeled.

Forced convective drying using a wind turbine mechanically connected to a ventilation fan was hypothesized for low cost and rapid grain drying in developing countries. The idea was tested using an expandable wind turbine blade system with variable pitch, at low wind speeds in a wind tunnel. The design was based on empirical and theoretical models embedded in a graphical user interface (GUI) created to estimate airflow-power requirements for drying ear corn. Output airflow (0.0016 - 0.0052 m3kg-1s-1) increased within the study wind speed range (2.0 - 5.5 m/s). System efficiency peak (8.6%) was observed at 3.5 m/s wind speed. Flow resistance was overcome up to 1m fill depth in 0.5 m x 0.5 m wide drying bin. Drying study at different airflow rates (no forced convection, 0.002 m3kg-1s-1 and 0.008 m3kg-1s-1) were conducted in a controlled environment at 35oC and 45% relative humidity with mean drying time; 40.3, 37.9 and 22.9 h respectively, that reduced with increasing airflow while drying the ear corn from 22% to 15% moisture content. The overall result supports the hypothesis that the wind convection system increased grain drying rates and should be further developed.