-Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
The computerized, self-dumping system that Mid-Iowa Cooperative (MIC) has used at some of its locations (including Liscomb, shown here) isn’t designed to replace MIC employees. "It's win-win that allows producers to haul more loads and lets our team members stagger their work hours so they can get some rest and enjoy more family time during the busy harvest season," said Rick Pfantz, MIC’s grain operations manager.

Think of those hectic days during harvest when farmers are burning daylight, trying to get another load of grain or two hauled to the elevator before they call it a day — or before the weather turns. Wouldn’t it be great to have just a few extra hours to get everything done?

Mid-Iowa Cooperative (MIC) is making this possible, thanks to self-dumping grain technology at various locations throughout the company.

“In my eyes, this has been a huge success,” said Jodi Simons, who works at MIC’s Liscomb location.

“With this new system, we can extend our harvest hours and utilize our employees efficiently. I think the farmers were pretty impressed this past fall when I could run the grain pits and legs from the office.”

Mid-Iowa Cooperative needed a game changer that would benefit producers and help the co-op meet the challenge of finding seasonal help at harvest, said Rick Pfantz, the cooperative’s grain operations manager.

While Mid-Iowa Cooperative rarely had trouble hiring seasonal help in years past, that changed with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the late summer of 2021, MIC utilized an area employment agency, but that agency couldn’t find us any help,” Pfantz said.

As the cooperative’s management team brainstormed potential options, it became clear that an automated, self-dumping system could offer a practical solution. Mid-Iowa used this technology at six of its locations in the fall of 2021, including Liscomb, Green Mountain, Haverhill, Midway, Mill Junction and Cedar Falls.

To make this system work, a computerized system is installed in the office at a location. This technology mirrors the programmable logic controller (PLC) system at the grain-dump pits, Pfantz said.

Only one Mid-Iowa Cooperative team member is needed to run the self-dumping grain system.

If a Mid-Iowa Cooperative location is typically open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during harvest, for example, this system makes it possible to keep the location’s grain-receiving systems open until 10 p.m.

“Not all farmers want to run late during harvest, but some do,” Pfantz said. “Having the opportunity to haul a couple more loads of grain at night during harvest can make it easier to get more work done, switch fields, and be more efficient.”

This can be especially useful with the uncertainty of Mother Nature, when a few extra hours of hauling grain before the weather changes can make all the difference.

“For producers who want to work later or want to finish a field before weather sets in, we’re glad we can offer extended hours at the co-op,” Simons said. “Helping things run smoothly for the farmers, with fewer employees at the co-op, is an amazing opportunity.”

“This technology is awesome”

When David Willits heard about Mid-Iowa Cooperative’s self-dumping grain system last fall, he was impressed.

“When it’s go time, being able to run a few extra hours and haul more loads of grain is really important to us,” said Willits, 39, who farms near Whitten, Union, Conrad and Bangor. “I was thrilled that MIC was open longer hours during harvest.”

Using the self-dumping system is easy, added Willits, who custom farms some acres around Liscomb and Albion. The Mid-Iowa Cooperative team showed him how the system works before he tried it last fall.

“I was confident I was going to do it right,” he said. “Now that I’ve tried it, I couldn’t be happier with it.”