With grain drying and handling something of a bottleneck at harvest time, one Yorkshire grower went back to the drawing board to seek a costeffective way to improve his storage logistics

Faced with out-dated grain drying facilities, the first option for many growers is to lean towards a larger combine. This route creates the opportunity to start cutting later, if only to make the most of the weather’s natural drying capability, as long as you can cope with bringing the crop in much faster. And compared to investing in fixed equipment, it can be seen as a relatively low-cost, easy win. But for Doug Dear, of Osgodby Grange near Selby, North Yorkshire, opting for a bigger combine wasn’t his first choice.