Another reminder for farmers to make sure they take the time to monitor their grain bins on a regular basis.

With the variable weather conditions at harvest in some areas, it’s very important to monitor the stored grain closely.

Producers want to make sure the stored crop is not loosing condition – especially Canola.

Warren Ward is an Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada.

He says ideally you want to see 8% or less moisture.

"At about fifteen degrees celsius or cooler. At those levels we would expect to see canola stored fairly well throughout the winter. Some of the issues that can happen though are that you could have high green seed content or potentially some green plant material or wheat seeds that went into the bin as well and those can be where hot spots start to form in the bin."

Temperature probes or cables can prove very helpful, while some producers prefer to just turn the grain on a regular basis.

Ward adds that knowing the condition of canola when going into the bin can be useful.

"I think most people do have a good idea of what condition the canola went into the bin at. So you know if it did go in a little bit hotter than during the heat of harvest or maybe it did go in with a little bit higher moisture content. I think generally people have a good idea of which bins are going to be more at risk. Again it can pop up in a bin that you wouldn't expect a problem in."

He notes for producers that may have an issue of heated canola they are a few buyers that handle it noting that there is a list of potential customers in the November Canola Watch .