STORAGE
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#1 STORAGE SPECIAL SERIES
- Combatting grain storage losses
In the early 1990s Perendale Publisher Roger Gilbert coined the phrase “Feeding 9.5 billion people by 2050.” More recently, the FAO (Food & Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations) has forecast that we will need to increase food production by a chilling 70 percent over current levels by that date in order to feed one-third more mouths! Now that statistic is made even more daunting by the accelerating effects of climate change. One thing that must be kept in mind is the fact that more than one-third of food is lost or wasted in postharvest operations. These losses are typically due to due to moulds, mycotoxins and pests (rodents and insects).
Reducing losses
Reducing these postharvest losses, especially in developing countries, could be a sustainable solution to increase food availability, reduce pressure on natural resources, eliminate hunger and improve farmers’ livelihoods. In many developing nations, cereal grains are the basis of staple food, and account for the maximum postharvest losses on a calorific basis among all agricultural commodities. As much as 50–60 percent of cereal grains can be lost during the storage stage due only to the lack of technical efficiency. Use of scientific storage methods can reduce these losses to as low as 1–2 percent. Post-harvest storage losses have a huge impact even in the most developed nations, averaging around 10 percent annually. And just as important as the loss of food are the economic losses to farmers, the impact on millers of lower quality grain, the increased green house gases that entails from wasted production, etc.
Three-part report: Number one Grain losses are such a critical concern that Milling & Grain has created this special report, which will run over three issues. Each month will focus on a range of different topics: September: Storage solutions— stopping/reducing mould, mildew and insect infestation before it can set in. The Big Chill—Grain aeration and Grain Coolers. October: The Usual Suspects—the most common pests infesting grains. Fumigation: Part 1: Phosphine; Nitrogen/Phosphine November: Fumigation gases Part 2: Carbon Dioxide; Ozone gases 82 | September 2018 - Milling and Grain
War on waste