Construction and evaluation of the typical technology pattern of farmer cooperatives for grain harvest-storage in China

Abstract: "Three increases" in the production, storage and import of grain industry have triggered the continuous advance in the current harvest-storage system in recent years. At the same time, there is a highly serious loss of grain in the harvest and postharvest stages. Specifically, the annual loss of grain only in the storage, transportation and processing is up to about 3.5×1010 kg. Among the main grain storage entities, the loss rate of the farmers' grain harvest-storage is the highest, which reduces food supply and farmers' income level. Furthermore, new types of operation entities, such as farmer cooperatives, are widely expected to cope with the planting and storage dispersion since 2006. However, some current cooperatives only share simple harvest-storage technology, failing to formulate the production on a large scale, where the facilities and equipment are still lacking. In this study, an attempt was made to deal with the present situation of harvest and postharvest links in the farmer cooperative, such as simple technology, high loss rate, high energy consumption, and technology mismatch. The field data was collected in 130 farmer cooperatives covering 7 provinces in China. An integrated scheme of grain harvest-storage technology was also established for the farmer cooperatives integrating various engineering technologies. An evaluation was made on the typical technology pattern of grain harvest-storage in farmer cooperatives using hierarchical analysis, Delphi, and case study. The whole link, operation entities, and grain types were also considered during the evaluation. Three representative patterns were constructed, including the mechanical drying with clean energy for corn in northeast China, natural drying with green energy in annual double cropping areas of Central Plains, and rice mechanized drying and classified collection in southern China. These designs were assessed from the aspects of pattern connotation, suitable scope, and pattern scheme. Taking the harvest-storage pattern of a farmer cooperative in Liaoning Province as an example, the score shifted from the medium to excellent grade, after the cooperative pattern was optimized. The specific operational indicators showed that the loss rate of harvest-storage link decreased from 9% to 5%, the mildew rate of corn decreased from 4%-8% to less than 2%, and the drying energy consumption was reduced by more than 15%. It inferred that the well-established pattern was feasible to optimize the grain harvest-storage scheme for the farmer cooperative in specific regions. Nevertheless, some possible constraints also need to be considered, such as the state-of-the-art technology, market prospect, acceptance degree, and policy system, when the pattern is applied to optimize the current cooperative harvest-storage scheme. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the optimization of the harvest-storage pattern should be further strengthened in the follow-up study, where the marginal effect of cooperative scale, harvest-storage pattern, and economic output should be further explored to determine the best balance. The finding can provide potential support to reduce grain loss, while keeping grain quality in modern highly mechanized agriculture.