In Argentina the
situation was different. Storage space was already scarce
when at that time the grain harvest nationwide totaled
around 40 million tons. When in the mid 90’s production
began to grow by 10% annually, it soon became evident
that the shortage of grain storage and handling facilities
was a major stumbling block for further expansion and
that innovative solutions were required. Necessity was
thus the critical factor that pushed the technique to
the forefront of agricultural technology in the late
part of the 90’s decade, developing slowly at
first and then evolving at an accelerated pace as it
continued to prove its worth in practical, real-world
conditions.
The phenomenal growth of the system in the last years
is attested by the fact that approximately one third
of the total amount of grain produced in the country
is now being kept inside grain, or silo bags. Translated
into numbers, this means that in 2006 some 25 million
tons of dry grains were stored in silo bags, and that
of 97 million tons of grain expected to be harvested
in 2007 in Argentina, more than 30 million tons will
find their way into bags. To give a clearer idea of
how much this tonnage represents, it is equivalent to
the entire Australian crop production in a good year.
The scenario of old has changed considerably in America
and the rest of the world as a global-oriented economy
has gradually taken over. In this context, the rise
in the price of commodities such as corn and soybeans,
in part because of new productions such as ethanol,
are potential boons for the farming community. Add to
this the fact that growing worldwide demand for food
and energy will most likely sustain and augment this
trend. All this represents great opportunity, but it
also poses a challenge because adequate planning and
logistics are essential if the best results are to be
achieved.
On-site storage with its inherent advantages is pivotal
to a good sales strategy, and storing grain in polyethylene
bags is the proven, cost-effective method available
today to accomplish that. In fact, the advantages of
the grain bagging technique are so many and its appeal
is so widespread that its users range from small producers
who own a couple of hundred acres of land, to huge international
grain traders such as Cargill, Bunge and Dreyfus.
Now a method has been developed that allows the dual
operations of filling and emptying the bags to be performed
in the most simple and straightforward way yet devised:
the
Flexi-Grain Storage system. |
