Customer Testimonial

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Marketing Advantage

The average price for durum in our area was anywhere from $.50-$1.50 per bushel. Our pressure cured grain at harvest was worth $4.00/bushel.

Bill Wakefield
Devils Lake, ND

Put your money where it will make you money - quality dictates the end price!

For Bill Wakefield, Devils Lake, North Dakota, committing resources to their best possible use is a critical part of successful farm management. “It all comes down to what will make you money,” says Wakefield. “I’d rather put my money where it will make me money.” To this end, Wakefield has invested in 14 CMC Pressure Cure® systems to date, and has already laid plans for future expansion. Why?

“In farming right now, it’s all about being efficient, and it’s all about quality,” explains Wakefield. “You’ve got to have every tool you can get to have a quality product. Maintain the integrity of the product and be out there selling a product that’s better than everyone else…better than other countries.”

Farmers who Pressure Cure® their grain often comment on the marketing advantage they enjoy by “setting their product apart.” As new and more stringent grain quality parameters dictate final price it will become more important to preserve grain quality. As Wakefield has experienced firsthand, pressure curing is a powerful tool in meeting this objective.

“We had other bins, but we didn’t have the capability of forced air drying. With wheat, barley, oats and specifically, durum, quality makes a huge difference in the price you end up getting. That’s why these Pressure Cure® bins have been even more important.”

In a region where 10 years of wet weather and fusarium head blight (scab) have dominated the farming scene, Wakefield is convinced that Pressure Cure® can help farmers persevere and prosper.

“The Pressure Cure® systems are just as important to us—if not more important—than the tractors we’re running or the chemicals we’re applying. If we lose that crop right at the end because we don’t have the tools to take it off wet, and preserve the quality and yield, then it’s all in vain.” This reality hit home most forcibly in 2000, when the region was deluged with rainfall at the worst possible time; durum harvest.

“We had 3,500 acres of durum wheat,” Wakefield recalls. “We pressure cured all that durum. In the surrounding 30-40 miles of Devils Lake, there was no durum that made #1 milling. None. But isn’t it interesting that on 3,500 acres of our grain, it all made #1 milling. The average price for durum in our area in 2000 was anywhere from $.50-$1.50/bushel. Our Pressure Cure® grain at harvest was worth $4.00/bushel.”

“We had a situation on about 160,000 bushels of grain, where those four 30,000 bushel Pressure Cure® systems paid for themselves the first year. Whether you paid for the first year or not really doesn’t make any difference. The fact of the matter is they are making me money every year.”

Part of the quality and price advantage captured by Wakefield can be attributed to the retention of valuable test weight. As wheat growers know all too well, even a single rain event at the wrong time can drop test weight and grade significantly. “We were at 60-61 pounds,” states Wakefield. “Most everybody else was running 48-56 pounds/bushel. Our grain was off and everybody else was waiting around not able to go. There was some good crop out there but it was all lost due to the rain. We found that we just couldn’t go without (these Pressure Cure® bins). I wouldn’t ever consider even putting up a bin unless it has air under it. There is no good reason to do otherwise.”

“You can’t afford to lose the crop,” says Wakefield. “It’s a dirty shame when you get to the end of the growing season and your profit is standing out there in that field, and the only thing standing between you and getting it out is Mother Nature.” For this reason, Wakefield is adamant about putting money where it will make money. “You’ve got to say to yourself, “do I really need to trade up to a new tractor?’”

“Once you bite the bullet (on a Pressure Cure® system) from that point on you only make money. You spend it once, but every year you make money. Every year you collect a dividend. The dividend is being able to go out there with peace of mind because you know ‘we can start combining.’”