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An innovative hand-held device for in-field grain quality measurement
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The GrainSense app backs up all measurements, the user can access the data anytime from anywhere
by Julia Auzeral, GrainSense, Finland he innovative grain quality measurement device GrainSense revolutionises farming practices and trading grain commodities. Contrary to conventional grain analysers, the GrainSense device is truly hand-held and battery-operated. It is now possible to analyse the quality of grain in a few seconds in the field, when loading or unloading, in the barn and at
the silos. All measurements are saved instantly to a secured cloud database via bluetooth connection through a mobile application. Personal data can be accessed at any time from anywhere with a GrainSense cloud account. The GrainSense hand-held device measures the protein, moisture, oil and carbohydrate contents of grains cereals and other crops. For the first time, farmers, seed producers, and plant breeders will be able to rapidly measure the key parameters of their crops in the field and make decisions that can significantly improve their productivity and profitability. GrainSense allows major improvements to the food supply chain. The GrainSense solution has been developed in close collaboration with individual farmers and farming organisations. The feedback from farmers has confirmed that until now, there have not been suitable tools available to support farm-level decision-making in order to manage and optimise the protein content of crops.
Affordable and durable for farm use, both grain and livestock producers will find great interest in such a product with a payback time that is estimated as less than a year. Farmers generally farm for 40 harvests, 40 chances to “get it right” so to speak. GrainSense helps farmers to get answers to many questions that directly affect the quality, cost, and pricing of their produce and also allows them to assess their individual field performances and farming practices.
Competitive advantages
The GrainSense device: • Eliminates need to mail samples and wait for results • Enables early harvest planning based on crop quality • Enables ”real time” sorting at the grain silos, thereby increases revenue • Saves energy at the dryer with accurate moisture measurements • Optimises operations through more frequent protein/oil measurements • Simplifies inter-farm trading, a growing trend • Enables farmers to buy grains that have optimal protein content for the feed and adjust the animal intake • Gives negotiating power to the farmer when selling because protein, moisture and oil contents are of paramount for fixing most crops prices and premiums • Enables improvement in farming practices, harvest after harvest, based on real data
A measurement in 30 seconds
The hand-held size of the device and the carryon bag make it easy to have the GrainSense device everywhere you go
64 | March 2019 - Milling and Grain
To take a measurement, a reference reading is first taken using an empty sphere for a baseline. Kernels are then loaded onto the glass (60-80 kernels, 3-5gr), and the sample is measured in four seconds. From these two measurements, the absorbance cross section (ACS) of the kernels can be determined. Multivariate calibration algorithms are used to define the protein, moisture, carbohydrates and oil contents. According to the sample size (e.g field size, truck capacity), three measurements or more can be taken and averaged via the app in a couple of minutes. On a year to year basis, NIT lab devices are re-calibrated to adjust for the phenomena known as annual offsets. These annual