If you have corn and soybeans stored on the farm from last fall, you better be checking those bins once a week now.

Ethanol plants and other buyers of corn are continuing to raise concerns about the quality of some of the grain coming out of farmers' bins this spring. Corn is wetter than usual and has more damaged kernels. If you are selling corn to ethanol plants, be aware they might not accept your corn if it doesn't meet their quality specifications. Grain elevators have also refused to accept some loads.

Ray Jenkins, senior grain merchandiser for Cargill at Eddyville in southeast Iowa, says that large processing plant is seeing more corn come in with higher moisture and more broken kernels, more foreign material and significantly higher damage levels than normal.

Discounts for damage are increasing

Some of the corn has a blue-eye mold on it. Once corn starts to spoil you really can't stop it, he says. You can slow it down a little with aeration management. The bottom line is, you need to watch your corn and check bins once a week this time of year. If you detect any signs of trouble, you'll have to sell it or dry it.

Remember, damaged grain is worth less each day. "Talk to a buyer and you'll find out that much of this damaged corn is barely worth the freight to get it to an elevator," says Charles Hurburgh, a grain quality specialist who is director of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative at Iowa State University. "Discounts for kernel damage and foreign material will increase through the spring and summer; the grain handling system already has more poor-quality corn than it can handle."

More corn is going out of condition

Hurburgh has been warning farmers, elevators and processors about the need to take special steps to manage stored grain this past winter and now spring to keep it from going out of condition. Corn was harvested wetter than normal last fall due to the late planting and the late 2008 growing season. In many cases farmers didn't dry the corn down as low as they usually do at harvest - trying to save money on expensive energy costs for drying.

"In addition, the 2008 corn is softer and lower in protein which increases chances of spoilage during storage and makes the corn more prone to breakage and higher amounts of foreign material after handling," says Hurburgh.

Now, farmers who have wet corn are trying to figure out how to manage the grain without losing money. "If you have wet corn now, still being stored in the bin, keep in mind that it is better to either dry the wet corn down to below 15% moisture content, or sell it before it goes out of condition and spoils too badly," says Hurburgh. "You've got to move fast to avoid losing it."

Should you sell the corn?

"Once the temperature of the grain in the bin starts to rise and you can't cool the grain down by using outside air because the weather is starting to warm up in late winter and early spring, then the grain will have to be warmed with aeration fans," says Hurburgh. "If it is wet (above 15% moisture content) the grain will have to be dried. If you find hotspots or problems in your stored grain, I recommend not trying to hold it any longer. You should haul it to market. This year's corn is much more unstable than normal corn."

While the best thing to do is get the corn out of the bin, farmers don't want to do that because the market price isn't attractive enough for them to want to sell right now. "That's true," notes Hurburgh. "But you do need a quality crop to sell, especially to processors and ethanol markets where grain damage is such a concern. Even livestock feeders don't want to buy corn that's badly damaged."

Some elevators offering incentives

Farmers have to balance what their objectives are, he adds. "If farmers are going to hold this corn through spring and into summer, they are just going to have to get it dried down in the bins or risk it going out of condition and losing their opportunity to market it."

Some elevators are offering free or reduced cost deferred price contracts. These allow you to move the corn while preserving price opportunities. "Ironically, basis levels are narrow; the cash market buyers need corn to keep plants and elevators moving," notes Hurburgh. "Damage penalties can be high. Deferred pricing works better if you have sound corn, which is why it is important to act in advance of problems."