Closa Family Farm

Argentina Grain Handling - Skyway Grain Systems

In 1999, the Closa family of Bahia Blanca, Argentina decided that they'd like to take better control of the marketing of their annual corn crop. Their farm, near the town of Arrecifes, is located in one of the most fertile crop production areas in the world. The rolling land in the triangle made up of the towns of Arrecifes, Pergamino and Rojas produces abundant crops of wheat, corn, soybeans and sunflowers. Nearby port facilities in Rosario and Buenos Aires gives an advantage of low transportation cost for the crop.

On farm corn storage allows the producer to hold corn off the market until prices are favourable. IPC SA, located in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, (Skyway's Argentina Dealer), was able to provide design layout and supervise the construction of a Hutchinson Grain Pump to accomplish this goal.

The system consisted of an 8" Grain Pump loop, 50' high and 250' long. Two 30hp motors drive the 600' of chain, which loops around three 40,000 bu. flat bottom silos and a truck dump/fill drive-over area. The Closas went to the complete convenience of a system that allows them to fill and empty the corn from any bin to and from the truck load in/truck load out. The system can also turn grain in the same bin, move grain from bin to bin and blend grain from more than one bin to the truck

The corn is dropped at the truck drive-over directly into the grain pump chain at the bottom of the loop via a truck. Six feet from the truck hopper drop-in, the corn drops from the chain loop and enters a bucket elevator which carries it up into a rotary corn cleaner. The corn cleaning operation adds value to the crop because the corn is cleaned to export standards. From the cleaner, the cleaned corn then drops back into the bottom of the chain loop where it is carried up and around and put into the silo of choice. The corn is stored until the Closa family wants to sell it, cleaned to export standards. The corn can be loaded out for sale in a market timely manner, by pressing a start button and filling trucks quickly with the grain pump loop.