grain to heated air accounts for an additional 1.35 billion dollars per year loss. Both of these costs (1.53 billion dollars) are paid for by the consumer public in higher food costs. The shortage and spiraling costs of propane and all fossil-fuels are a serious contribution to inflation. GAS-DRYING ADDS TO MARKET COSTS. Until field-shelling of highmoisture grain and drying gained acceptance, farmers provided their own storage facilities for taking care of the grain they grew, and generally they marketed their grain in an orderly way over longer periods of time. Today this pattern is destroyed. Concentrated flow of grain from farms to market is over a shorter priod of time --a glut of grain flows to country elevators whose capabilities are strained to an extreme. Because of inadequate facilities, the country elevators must keep the grain flowing to processors, thus adding new pressures on transportation facilities representing added expenditures of energy. This congestion at market-time depresses grain prices and forces the farmer to sell his grain for less than its real value. SIMPLER SOLUTION. The need at harvest-time is not for more fossil-fuel, it is not necessarily for more trucks and hopper-bottom railcars, but, the need is for more on-farm storage facilities and better management know-how. Because of the extreme perishability of food-grain, proper management must begin "from moment of harvest". This problem is so great that it can be resolved only when each individual farmer himself takes care of the grain he produces; only then will the food-value of his grain -5 be preserved; only then will energy be conserved; only then will foodgrain flow into the markets in an orderly way. Until now, farmers have been reluctant to build their own facilities because of their realization that heated air drying is destructive, hazardous and costly. The technology must be better before they will buy it! GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY. The production, preservation and orderly marketing of food-grain is in the best interest of the producer, the consumer, the nation and the world. Governments should encourage this beneficial effect; it can best do it by encouraging farmers to build grain storage facilities that will maximize preservation of food-grain while minimizing energy consumption. Government can: 1) educate to better use of energy, specifically as to current practises of energy-abuse in drying grain; 2) allocate energy to priorities, i.e., food production not food destruction. 3) encourage construction of energy-saving, grain-conserving systems on farms. Governmental farm programs should provide loan opportunities to farmers which facilitate the purchase and installation of food-grainstorage systems at favorable interest rates and longer terms. |