Thursday, September 23, 2010

Grain Processing Mills Ready for Fall Harvest



In many 42N country small towns local grain mills are ready to process the 2010 crop. Here in the southern portion of Iowa City (41°38'N, 91°33'W), near the municipal airport is a complex of grain storage bins and mills. This site is repeated all over the Midwest to the point where you hardly notice the structures. But venture outside the region or into urban areas and you will not see these iconic structures.

Some of the bins hold the harvest for later transport to distribution centers or local business consumers. Some of the bin contents are milled per individual specification for livestock feed like in the photo above. A stat that I found regarding the annual harvest of 12.1 million bushels of corn use in North America is: 
  • 44% livestock feed
  • 30% fuel production (ethanol)
  • 15% exports
  • 8% making food starches and sweeteners
  • 3% making corn flour, grit, meal and beverage alcohol. 
Nationwide, the corn harvest through September 20th is 18% complete. Know that.

6 comments:

  1. again i must ask, where are the photo credits? :)

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  2. What happened to our Hawkeyes last Saturday? I so wanted them to beat the Wildcats!

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  3. It's time, it's truly time. I have always enjoyed watching the combines in the fields of Nebraska. I know, it's not Iowa, but I haven't seen a harvest in Iowa :)

    Kristin - the Goat

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  4. It is nice that your post had photos too. Your post is informative, but I'm rather easily confused and I found the photos helpful.....to get the picture as well as read the facts...

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  5. Great photos, this Ozark farm chick has been through Iowa City many times in the past. We chopped our corn into silage this year. 671 tons of the stuff! Loved the pics...over from Mrs. 4444's.

    Ya'll have a wonderfully blessed weekend from the beautiful hills and hollers of the Missouri Ponderosa!!!

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  6. Your daughter cracks me up :)

    Wow! Nezzy's farm must be huge! Now I'll have to ask her how many acres of corn it takes to make 671 TONS of corn.

    When you look at those stats, it's amazing to think of how much corn is produced. Very cool.

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