01/04/07 Potential Heating Process

After years of using propane to heat large food processing plants as an alternative to chemical fumigation for insect control - Temp-Air is studying how the technology can be applied to farms. That's why the Propane Education and Research Council is funding a project that allows Temp-Air to work with Purdue University to validate the usefulness of this technology in farm operations. Mark Leitman is Director of Agriculture Programs for PERC. LEITMAN: They've learned through some research with Kansas State University a few years back that they can actually attach those heating units to a home or a factory or a business or an agricultural building and fumigate that building with heat. They raise the temperature inside somewhere in the 120 to 130 degree range, they hold it there for a period of time, sufficient time to desiccate and kill any insects or bacteria or mold that is living inside of it. So they dry the structure out and they use heat to kill insects that might be living there. So it's a real effective means of non-chemical insect control. Currently - Leitman says Temp-Air is working with Purdue - the recognized expert in insects in bins and silos - to determine the feasibility of a propane-powered mobile heat treating system in grain bins and other structures. LEITMAN: One of the areas they're testing right now is trying to determine whether or not these units can be used to sanitize a grain bin for example, and insure that there is no living mold, bacteria or of course weevils or other insects living in the grain bin prior to a farmer bringing in a new crop. They're also looking at other Ag structures. Processing facilities or livestock confinement facilities just to name a few and it looks like it could work in a number of those applications. According to Leitman - the system has already proved a great option for those who can't use chemicals for certain components of their operation. He says the food processing industry is a great example - as chemical fumigation meant shutting down for days or even weeks. LEITMAN: You can come in with propane and heat a structure in a day and then get it back into production very quickly where chemical fumigation may take longer to prepare and actually implement a treatment; it's an alternative way of controlling insects in a more environmentally friendly way. Leitman says that's why PERC is hopeful farmers and ranchers throughout the country will give this technology a try - fumigating their buildings with heat - rather than chemicals. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.