After Bílovec, PAWLICA also had a post-harvest line built in Troubky.

RenoFarma Troubky, a.s. farming in the Přerov district, can look forward to a carefree harvest again this year. Thanks to a new post-harvest line from PAWLICA, s.r.o., the harvest is faster and easier than in previous years. RenoFarma Troubky, a.s. is the second farm that has decided to build a post-harvest line with the supplier PAWLICA s.r.o. The first was RenoFarma Bílovec, a.s., where they have had a post-harvest line since 2017.

The RenoFarma Group, a.s. farms approximately 14,000 hectares in northern Moravia. It is engaged in both crop and livestock production, with the livestock production focusing mainly on milk production. A herd of 1 800 dairy cows is used for this purpose. The holdings operate as separate economic units, but there is mutual assistance between them in terms of the joint use of agricultural equipment and labour.

There was a need to store the harvest from the two holdings

Renofarma Troubky, a.s. recently decided to invest in a new post-harvest line to facilitate the harvest and to enable it to sell harvested commodities at more favourable prices during the year. The farm cultivates approximately 1 400 ha in the Přerov district. Among the cash crops, it grows winter wheat, spring barley, rape and now also naked oats, sunflowers and soya beans. According to Ferdinand Večera, the managing director, these crops are in demand and have a high market value. The aim of the investment in the post-harvest line was, among other things, to ensure quality cleaning, drying and storage for approximately 2/3 of the production. However, it is not only the storage of its own production, but also that of the nearby Renofarma Tovačov, s.r.o., as the two companies work in cooperation with each other. Together they manage almost 3 000 hectares of agricultural land.
As livestock production in Troubky includes 380 dairy cows, maize is also grown intensively. And not only for dairy cows. The biogas plant is also fed with maize, so it has a relatively high proportion in the crop rotation.

Faster harvests, easier dispatch and quality storage

As Ferdinand Večeřa explains, there were several reasons for building the post-harvest line. "First of all, there was a need to simplify and speed up harvesting. Now we can easily bring the harvest to the line, clean it, sort it according to quality and store it immediately in the silos. We also have a mini-laboratory on the line where we carry out sample analyses, such as moisture and nitrogen measurements. That way, we know immediately whether the wheat is food or feed wheat and whether we need to dry a commodity. We can then store it immediately in silos, where the storage conditions are optimal and the grain is preserved for a long time. This is a great simplification for us. When the harvesters leave the fields, we have everything stored, sorted and preserved in good quality practically until the shipment," says the director. In the past, he adds, the grain was transported from the field to the sheds, which were then gradually sorted and cleaned. A major disadvantage was the need to sell part of the crop at harvest, such as rape, to make room for storage of other commodities.
Večeřa also sees a big advantage in the simplified dispatch. "The way it works is that a truck arrives, fills up as needed and leaves again. In contrast, in the past, when we stored in warehouses, everything was more complicated in terms of handling, time and personnel. Now shipping is much faster and easier," he explains.

It can be sold at any time of the year and at higher prices

With the new warehouses, the need to sell commodities immediately after harvest at current market prices has also been eliminated. "The fact that we don't have to sell right after the harvest when prices are not as favourable, is obviously a huge advantage. Thanks to the abundance of quality warehouses, we are not pushed anywhere. We can determine when to whom and at what price we sell the commodities and that is exactly what we needed. It proved to be very strategic already last year. Prices were low after the harvest and we were finally not forced to sell." Večera describes the benefits of the new post-harvest line. And not only that.  Thanks to the new silos, the company is also able to sort and store cereals according to quality. "The new silos also allow us to store a batch of wheat or barley that has a higher food quality separately and then sell it at a better price," Večeřa adds. However, he admits that it is not within the company's capacity to store and hold all the harvested crops. For this reason, the sale of part of the harvest is always arranged in advance.
A new BROCK EVEREST silo with a total capacity of 12,000 tonnes is now used to store the harvest.

Corn, soybeans, sunflowers and corn are dried at Troubky    

A dryer should not be missing in any post-harvest line and the owners of Renofarma Troubky, a.s. are well aware of this. When it rains during the harvest, having your own drying room is invaluable. Since last year, Troubky has been using the STELA GDB-TN 1/9 S dryer, which is primarily designed for drying cereals but is also suitable for drying other grains. It can even cope with maize, which works out well economically. Waste heat from the biogas plant and natural gas are used as a heating medium in Troubky. "It depends on which crop we need to dry at the time. In the case of cereals and rapeseed, we usually have enough waste heat, but for soya and corn we have to switch on a gas burner," Večeřa informs, adding that drying corn has some costs, but it is possible. Last year, the company managed to dry around 600 tonnes of maize with a moisture content of around 30% in one drying session. This year, they plan to dry soya beans and, for the first time, sunflowers.

The experience with the first dryer was positive, so they built a second dryer.

The construction of the post-harvest line in Troubky took place during 2019, with the project and building permits starting a year earlier. In addition to the STELA dryer and BROCK silos, the line is also equipped with a RUBERG RVS 100 grain cleaner with an output of 100 t/h. The material transport within the line is provided by SKANDIA conveyors and a SØBY grain pump with the same capacity. For easy and fast dispatching, dispatch bins and a PawlicaTruckScale road bridge scale are used. The dispatch hall is also used as a receiving hall. It is equipped with a 100 t/h residue-free receiving bin. The contractor of the entire construction was PAWLICA s.r.o., which has cooperated with RENOFARMY, a.s. in the past. In 2017, it built a post-harvest line on the farm in Bílovec, which has a storage capacity of about 10,000 tonnes, a STELA GDB-TN 1/9 S dryer, and conveyor belts with an output of 100 t/h. As this construction convinced the owners of the high quality of the supplied post-harvest technology, cooperation with PAWLICA was also established for the delivery of the post-harvest line to Troubky. "Before we approached Pawlica for the construction of the line in Bílovec, the owners looked at the lines already in place in other companies. They also took a tour of the BROCK silo manufacturer's plant in the USA. As this convinced them of the high quality of the technology used by Pawlica in their lines, they chose Pawlica as the supplier for the construction. After the positive experience in Bílovec, PAWLICA was the obvious choice for Troubky as well," says Mr. Večeřa praising the cooperation so far. As he further explains, Troubky is satisfied with the post-harvest line and the services of PAWLICA s.r.o. "Although it is true that we had to deal with some minor shortcomings at the beginning of the operation, these were soon eliminated and everything worked without any problems. Overall, our expectations were fulfilled and we are satisfied with the delivered construction," he informed and added that the course of the entire construction and the quality of the service can be evaluated very well.

Thank you for your cooperation 

PAWLICA team