A ready-made sunken grain pit designed to make installation easier while also providing ready access to the conveyor will be one highlight of the grain handling and drying area of Cereals 2013.

The Dry Pit system from Jema Agro is supplied in bolt-together sections to fit a rectangular concrete casing with vertical sides.

“The self-supporting steel hopper is suspended from the top of the concrete lining and sits 140mm from the floor,” explains Mark Unitt of Jema distributor Danagri-3S. “There’s room to reach the conveyor for maintenance access and it’s held clear of any water that gets in.”

There are two versions – one strong enough for drive-over filling, another with a walk-over grid. Standard width is 3m so the minimum 4m length of the shallowest pit gives a capacity of 12.7cu m while the deepest 8m size goes to 48.3.cu m.

Contents are hauled away by one of three Jema Agro conveyors chosen to match the three pit depths available, with handling options available beyond the end of the pit to suit the rest of the storage installation.

Siting a hopper bottom silo alongside an automatic grain dryer provides buffer storage and allows one or two batches of wet grain to be held in reserve so that the dryer can work its way through a larger quantity of grain continuously.

“It’s a cost-effective way to increase dryer productivity and reduce the operator’s time spent with the dryer,” says John McArthur of auto portable dryer supplier Mecmar.

The company will show the smallest (3t) capacity silo from its new range of rectangular hopper bottom silos at the event. There are six sizes in all, from 10.6 to 58.6cu m capacity, the biggest being capable of holding 44t of grain.

“They’re built strong enough to withstand grain being dumped in by a telehandler and they are hot dip galvanised for a high level of corrosion resistance,” says Mr McArthur. “The silos come with a manual outlet slide to regulate the flow of grain, a bash bar to minimise damage from bucket impacts, and a grain box to reduce spillage and keep the area around the bottom of the hopper clean and tidy.”

Portable grain dryers from Spanish manufacturer Agrex have an external filling and grain recirculating auger rather than the more common central recirculation unit.

“It allows completely free movement of grain through the system and eliminates any chance of hot spots developing, which could potentially damage the crop,” says Mark Harrison of distributor Ryetec.

The portable Agrex PRT dryers come in 7.5t, 12t, 20t and 25t sizes, while the 30t and 40t versions are designed as more permanent fixtures. All come with either power take-off or dual pto/electrically powered units with a choice of diesel- or gas-fuelled burners.

An optional heat exchanger, which provides a barrier to burner fumes or unburnt fuel, is also available to eliminate any risk of crop contamination from direct heat, and all can be equipped for fully automatic operation.