Kotzur Completes Massive Farm Storage Systems
One of Australia’s largest on-farm privately owned grain storage facility is complete, with its owner Joe Candeloro saying the multi million dollar investment at Toodyay, Western Australia, is already showing returns.
Mr Candeloro, who farms 8000 hectares with his wife Maria and sons Dion, and his wife Kate, Aaron, and his wife Nicki, and Jerome, and his wife Jane, says the 33,500 tonne state-of-the-art storage and handling facility built by southern NSW based grain storage specialists, Kotzur, is now the focus of the day-to-day operations of the farm for much of the year.
“Instead of having to pay to have grain stored, the buyers are paying us to the store the grain until delivery,” he says, adding he estimates the investment will take between six and 10 years to be recouped through storage fees, improved marketing options and by being able to attract premiums in specialist grain markets.
In 2009 the Candeloro’s grew 1500ha of canola, 2000ha of barley and 3800ha of wheat which resulted in 15000t of wheat and 10000t of barley being stored on farm.
Construction of the facility, which started in 2006 when the Candeloro’s contracted Kotzur to supply two flat floor gas sealed silos, each holding 2304 tonnes of wheat, to compliment an existing 6000t of storage.
In 2009 Kotzur added another two silos, each 2908t capacity and the material handling equipment to fill and reclaim from the silos. The facility features a 32t capacity drive-over road pit unloading facility which handles 250t of grain per hour with a conveyor system transporting from the road pit to a Downfield’s Pty Ltd supplied bucket elevator, the elevator operates at 250t/hr and includes a six way automatic rotary distributor. The silos can be fed either directly from the elevator or from the 250tph enclosed cascading belt conveyor system.
In 2010 Kotzur extended one of the 2908t silos adding an addition 485t. In addition to the silo extension an additional four silos were constructed adding an additional 16,855t. The silos are filled utilising the cascading belt conveyor system.
Mr Candeloro says unloading speed is where the investment also makes returns. Using the family’s own road trains to transport grain to the closest storage facilities previously was a two-and-a-half hour round trip at best.
“The other challenge is the weather. If we can avoid the price penalties from weather damaged grain because we can get it off faster, then the storage starts to pay for itself,” he says.
Reclaiming grain from the silos can also be done at 250t/hr with an enclosed belt conveyor. The facility also features a garner bin, 15 metres off the ground, which holds up to 79t of wheat which can be gravity fed into shipping containers to meet the Candeloro’s desire to enter the containerised grain market.
The project now completed equates to some staggering construction figures. An approx 4500 man hours to build the silos, 6000 man hours to construct the structural/mechanical aspects of the facility, over 700t of steel, 1500 cubic metre of concrete.
Andrew Kotzur, Managing Director of Kotzur, explains the facility was designed and drafted by our in-house drafting team at the company’s Walla Walla headquarters and was constructed by our own construction teams working in conjunction with local contractors.
The Candeloro’s completed the silo footings themselves with local contractors. A weighbridge and grain testing facilities were also installed.
“I can’t say it doesn’t take a bit of tweaking to get everything working 100 per cent, but Kotzur ensured it wasn’t finished until everything was perfect,” Mr Candeloro says.
“Every component is of the highest quality – the elevator is second to none.”
The Candeloro’s greatest ambition for the project was to be able to store grain safely and, if necessary, in segregations meeting all quality assurance and traceability requirements of customers. This factor, according to Andrew Kotzur, made the project even more rewarding.
“To work with clients who understand the value and necessity of controlling pests and avoiding contamination by using a quality gas sealed silo is rewarding. Our ongoing commitment is to provide customers with tools to manage these threats so they can provide their customers with top quality commodities,” Mr Kotzur says.
All structural components, including the silos, were built to the appropriate Australian codes. The silos are compliant to the new Australian Standard 2628 “Sealed grain-storage silos – Sealing requirements for insect control”.
To eliminate infestations the Candeloro’s utilise a Kotzur designed fumigant dispensing system. This dispensing system ensures the correct dispensing of fumigant within the gas sealed silo. Each filled silo is fully fumigated over 15 days.
To allow trade certified weighing of grain in all weather conditions, the garner bin for filling containers is enclosed within a clad building.
A sample of each load of grain delivered to the silos is taken for testing and as a record of what goes into each silo. Each sample is then placed in a sealed drum representing the silo that load is delivered into.
Already Joe Candeloro is fielding telephone calls and visits from fellow growers looking at investing in improved or larger on-farm storage.
“I tell them to start planning carefully. You need to make sure the position is right and the area for the silos is level,” he says.
“And to think big. When we started I thought the first silos would be the biggest we’d ever have and we’d fill in the gaps with smaller silos. Now they are the smallest.”
Kotzur is a family owned company specialising in products to handle bulk commodities ranging from on-farm silos through to bulk handling facilities.
The Candeloro project was managed from the Walla Walla headquarters with on-the-ground support from Kotzur’s West Australian sales manager Brian Cooper.
More information www.kotzur.com
