Marketing

[Hobbyfarmer]

Delievered a load of '11 corn Friday afternoon to the local elevator.

What a joy this is going to be this year.

Every single load is getting a DNA test to check for Aflotoxin. Takes about 10 minutes. They have to grind it in a blender, wet it, bake it, then look for the red stripe on the test strip.

They are practicing on the old corn to get a hang of the procedure. Good thing there is a very short crop here in South Podunk Country.

10+ MINUTE WAIT after leaving the scale. One thing about it the pit will always have room. 20 parts per Billion is the threshold for rejection.

[Farmerjoe79]

What happens when it gets rejected ?

[Hobbyfarmer]

You take it home or what ever, but it is not dumped.

Might make this years crop shorter.

If you have aflotoxin and rejectable corn, DO NOT harvest it.

It will be deemed unfit and Zeroed out for crop insurance, If you harvest it and bin it, it will be measured and counted as production against your guarentee. Only combine a load or maybe even just enough for sample purposes till you know for sure it is OK. 

[Mizzou_Tiger]

One of several things......if they will allow another sample to be tested you can try.....if its below 100 its still very marketable......below 20 is better and pretty much a non issue......above 100 up to about 300 is an issue but still not a disaster......over 300 (have only seen that once) is an issue.....

I have seen guys circle around and get back in line......or take it somewhere else......but if you roll into a place you don't deliver to very often watch out......you will be red flagged in a year like this and get looked over good......

The other option that is a big more location specific is wait......by next spring and summer most will be checking less and less......that said.....if you have 2011 and a junk 2012 crop and need to make cash delivery sales this fall and have a decent idea that your aflo is low......keep the 2011 and send the 2012.......nice clean corn to blend with this junk 2012 will bring a pretty penny if they know you got some......

[Mizzou_Tiger]

Its all about testing methods........test a truck 10 times and get 20 different answers........

[Hobbyfarmer]

This elevator grinds 150,000 bu a week for hogs and chickens and a little calf feed. As they have no way to identity preserve the crap from the good, so it all has to be good, The Torrance for young livestock is 20 PPB.,  that's right 20 parts per Billion for the most sensitive class of animal and that is their threshold to dump at any of their 7 locations.

[WCMO]

Hobby --

Don't think you're correct on that 20 ppb being zeroed out on crop insurance.

Best advice is if you think you could have aflatoxin, have been told you have aflatoxin, or just want your corn "officially" checked, then stop what you are doing and call your insurance agent pronto. 

An insurance adjuster can sample your unharvested field, or obtain samples while you are harvesting, or give you additional instructions.  You are not allowed to pull your own samples, and insurance probably cannot accept aflatoxin determinations from your local elevator.  If you harvest the field and put it in the bin, the adjuster cannot pull samples for aflatoxin from the bin.

Up to 20 ppb is okay.  I think over 300 ppb must be destroyed and will be zeroed out.  Anything in between is useable corn, it just gets more complicated.  Insurance will adjust your final production based on a discount chart if it's over 20 ppb.

[Hobbyfarmer]

You are right about the 20 level. What I should have said is if you have an aflotoxin issue is to not harvest till you know the severity of the issue. There are levels that will cost you $ if you harvest before knowing what you are dealing with. My guess is it is not going to be the issue it is hyped to be but there are always exceptions.

You are right about who takes the official sample BUT you can take your own for testing to see where you are at before you make that million dollar mistake and wind up with a completed harvest and unsaleable crop in the bin AND no insurance because of it.

Here locally there has been corn harvested with just a little over a 40 # test wt.

[marketeye]

On Friday, I witnessed a field in southcentral Iowa that had so much aflatoxin, the Cargill plant in Eddyville rejected the load. Farmers say the aflatoxin test takes 15 minutes. This is going to slow up farmers that are trying to 'dump and go'.

Mike

[Pupdaddy]

If it's anything like the Vomitoxin or "DON" test they were running a couple years ago, it would take about a half hour till they could get your test run. Then if it didn't pass, they would run a second test while you sat in their "penalty box" waiting to see if you could unload. I saw readings from way over acceptable drop to almost nothing that came from the SAME SAMPLE! I don't know who designed the tests...but I don't think they're very accurate on a time sensitive basis like unloading trucks demands.