Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Nalley, Lawton L.

Committee Member/Reader

Durand-Morat, Alvaro

Committee Member/Second Reader

Popp, Michael

Abstract

Globally, rice producers are faced with the temporal problem of deciding the optimal time to being rice harvest. When harvested, paddy rice is typically at a moisture content (HMC) between 15 and 22%. Upon delivery, the rice is subsequently dried by the mill to a moisture content (MC) of 12.5%. Riceland Foods Inc., the largest miller of rice in the world, uses a stair-step pricing model to charge farmers to dry in price/unit as the MC of grain decreases from a range of +22% to 13.5%. This study estimates an alternative linear relationship in the stair-step model to determine MC that incur a cost penalty/savings for commercial drying. Using current building, operating, insurance, and financing costs, we will then estimate the total fixed and operating costs to establish and run an on-farm rice drying and storage facility with capacities between 50,000 and 200,000 bus over the lifetime of the drier at varying rates of farm size and rice yield, while drying from a range of 16 and 23% HMC. A cost/benefit analysis compares on-farm operating to the current Riceland drying costs. The main deliverable from this study will be a payback-matrix rice producers can use to determine how many years a specific size farm with a specific yield will take to payback the cost of building an on-farm drier. The results will help farmers determine the feasibility of on-drying on their operation and potential savings associated with that operation.

Keywords

Rice; Drying; Grain Bins; Arkansas; Storage; Farming

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