Grain storage silos are widely used in the agriculture sector to store different types of grains such as wheat, rice, barley, and maize, among others. Grain silos are available in different types such as a wood silos, concrete silos, metal silos, steel silos, and others, and comes in different shapes, such as farm silos, feed hoppers, hopper bottom silos, flat bottom silos, and others. To maximize grain storage life and preserve their yield, many farmers choose to store their grains into grain storage silos. Apart from storage, grain silos provide other post-harvest management functions. They are also used as grain collectors and distributional centers.
Grain storage silos can be built either on foundations of soil or free-standing poles and are mainly used in farms to store grain. Generally, such silos can hold between five to twenty tons of material, but the amount of material that a silo can store will depend on its size and design. Grain storage silos come in a variety of sizes, designs, and purposes and serve the purpose of both indoor and outdoor storage. The amount of storage capacity will also depend on how big the silo can be, which will determine the cost and the type of silo that will be purchased.
For instance, if it is intended for the storage of large quantities of dry and liquid grains, then the size of the silo will have to be larger. However, there are many inexpensive options when it comes to silos designed for the storage of small quantities of grains, such as oats and wheat. The most important function of the silos is to store the feed. Today, the changing economy and high demand for agricultural products have made the use of storage silos to be mandatory equipment for every farmer. However, storage requirements for grain have changed over time.
The advantages of using grain storage silos for grain storage are that it provides safety for the storage, longer shelf life for the products stored inside as well as easy access and retrieval. Silos are a cost-effective method of long-term storage and occupy less land when land is scarce and storage costs are high. Thus, with the increasing demand for cost-effective and large-capacity grain storage, the demand for grain storage silos is also increasing. The United States is recorded to have more than 310 million metric tons of silo storage capacity.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), total grain storage capacity in the U.S. increased to 11.47 billion bushels in 2018, up from 10.66 billion bushels in 2014.