Harvest Calendar
How dried grain is kept sound in store, which pests and moulds threaten it, and what is counted as a post-harvest loss.
Good storage rests on three conditions: the grain is dry, the store is clean, and the bulk is checked regularly. Grain that enters store at a safe moisture, free of chaff and broken kernels, can keep its quality for years.
The living threats are insects, moulds and rodents. Weevils and borers hollow out kernels; moulds stain and heat the grain, and some produce mycotoxins that make it unsafe; rodents eat, spill and contaminate. All three thrive in warm, damp, undisturbed grain.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Ventilation and aeration keep a stored bulk even. A small airflow evens out temperature, prevents condensation on cold walls and removes the warm, humid pockets where mould starts. In sealed hermetic stores, insects and mould are instead suppressed by the lack of oxygen.
A post-harvest loss is any grain lost or downgraded between maturity and milling. Quantity losses are the weight that disappears to pests, spillage and spoilage; quality losses are the downgrading of what remains — broken, stained or mouldy grain that sells for less or not at all.
Losses are reduced by the same short list everywhere: harvest on time, dry promptly, store clean and dry, and inspect regularly. Global estimates put total food losses between harvest and retail at roughly 14%, and for cereals much of that loss is preventable with basic drying and storage hygiene.
Further reading