Investering i spannmålstorkning och lagring på gårdsnivå : en jämförelse av ett silotorksystem med omrörare och en konventionell anläggning

Abstract: The current situation for Swedish grain farmers facing a situation with decreasing profitability makes it necessary for the farmers to find ways of increasing the margins in their grain growing. Decreasing profitabilities along with Lantmännens closing of grain elevators contribute to the necessity for farmers to invest in grain storing and drying at the farm. By investing in capacity for drying and storage of grain on the farm it is possible to recieve a higher price on the grain sold due to the possibility to sell when the price is higher compared to the harvesting season. An investment in grain drying and storage with a relatively low investment cost that recently has appeared on the Swedish market is the grain stir drying system. This study contains a comparison of an investment in a grain stir drying system where the grain is dried and stored in the same silo and a conventional drying and storage system. The comparisons are made for two sizes of farms, 200 and 400 acres, in the three regions Svealands slättbygder (Ss), Götalands norra slättbygder (Gns) and Götalands södra slättbygder (Gss). On the farms quality grain is grown for marketing purposes along with oil-seed. In order to optimize the economic result of the farm when an investment is conducted in any of the drying and storage systems integer programming techniques have been used. The results from the optimizations have been analyzed in order to draw conclusion on which of the investments that is the most profitable given certain conditions. This study also aims to answer questions about the impact of variations in moisture contents on the economic result of investing in the different systems. The impact of the total acreage available and how the optimal cropping plan is affected by investments in different types of systems are also subjects for analyses. The results of the study show that an investment in the grain stir drying system generates, given certain conditions, the best economic result. However an investment in a grain stir drying system also yields larger variations in the economic results compared to the conventional system. The fact that larger silos results in a reduced capital cost per kg stored grain makes it easier to achieve profitability in an investment when the available acreage is larger. The impact of the moisture contents on the economic result is most pronounced when investing in a grain stir drying system. The explanation is mainly existing limitations on the maximum moisture content allowed using the system. The optimal cropping plan remains about the same for all the investment alternatives in all of the geographical areas. Winter-wheat, spring-barley and oil-seeds are the most profitable crops and that is why these are solely grown. However there is a difference in the acreage allocation when different investments are made.