Bringing his mobile system across state lines is no issue, Rich Bupp said
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Penn State University graduate is helping farmers who don’t have grain drying systems.
Rich Bupp, who now lives in Idaho, developed a mobile grain drying system that he can transport to farms where producers require drying for their harvested crops.
“The base dryer is a GSI1220, and we have portable augers that we move with us,” Bupp told Farms.com. “The dryer is run off propane and we have a generator that runs off propane. Everything runs off a single fuel source and we can operate wherever a farmer needs us.”
The dryer can operate in two ways.
It can run in a continuous flow method, where the unit unloads a dry crop as it’s being refilled with a wet crop. It can also dry crops in separate batches.
The dryer holds about 540 bushels, Bupp said. The dryer is also equipped with several sensors to accurately monitor a crop’s moisture level, he added.
Transporting the unit can take multiple trips. Once all the pieces are on site, Bupp can have it ready to go in about three hours.
Bupp is using the dryer for corn, soybeans and wheat, but he’d like to expand his customers to include barley and canola producers.
His decision to bring this kind of invention to farmers in Idaho and nearby states developed from a combination of time spent in Pennsylvania and experiences with unfavorable weather.
“In the winter of 2016, we had lots of snow and it came very early, so most farmers (around the Twin Falls, Idaho) area that were growing corn just left their crops in the field,” he said. “Drying was not part of the grain producing culture here. The traditional practice was just to leave the crop in the field until it dried, then harvest it.
“I was watching farmers lose 80 percent of their corn as it was buried under four feet of snow because there was no understanding of drying or early harvest. Coming from Pennsylvania, drying our crops was an accepted practice.”
Convincing farmers to use the mobile system has been challenging at times.
“There are still large portions of farmers who struggle with the concept of drying, so I have to spend a lot of time talking to them about return on investment and how an early harvest can benefit them,” Bupp said.
But those farmers who have used his product are happy with the results.
“A lot of times, we never finish harvest until December or January,” Mark Frey, a producer from Castleford, Idaho, told KMVT Sunday. “This way, we’re off by the middle of November and we can do a lot of fall work.”
Bupp is open to crossing state lines to help farmers with grain drying.
Farmers interested in learning more can contact him at 208-280-0602 or by email at 123machineinc@gmail.com.
Rich Bupp's grain drying system/KMVT photo