Grower Delivers To Corn Burning Customers

Grower Delivers To Corn Burning Customers ENERGY Corn Burning Soves Todd Benjamin direct markets corn to customers who heat their homes with corn burners He delivers -- just like companies deliver oil and propane -- and he s willing to help other farmers duplicate his business
The Webberville Mich farmer and his family came up with the idea when Benjamin s parents switched from a wood stove to corn
They loved the corn stove but handling 50-lb bags wasn t appealing to my dad Benjamin says We got playing around on how we could do it better
The project became a family affair with Benjamin s wife Loretta a high school agriculture teacher and FFA adviser and their daughter Cassie an FFA member They designed a polyethylene bin to hold just over a ton of dried shelled corn that fits on a pallet is short enough to slip into a garage and empties into a 5-gal bucket at a comfortable height The design and specifications Cassie created with computer software were used to begin the patent process as well as provide the blueprint for a mold for an Illinois manufacturer
Benjamin who grows 300 acres of corn experimented with drying and cleaning his own corn He dries it down to about 12 percent moisture
Corn is stable at 15 percent but it doesn t burn as hot Benjamin says You re wasting energy burning off moisture
To remove debris which can plug and extinguish corn burners Benjamin runs the corn over a double screen rotary cleaner as it goes into the grain dryer and again when it s conveyed into the delivery truck The former dairyman also uses a high capacity funnel fan to blow chaff off the corn as it comes out of the dryer
Benjamin put together a delivery truck with an enclosed van body and a used saltbox he purchased from the county highway department He suspended the box on weigh bars so he knows exactly how many pounds of corn he delivers to customers bin using a seed vacuum and 40-ft stainless steel flex hose A printer in his truck allows him to print out a professional receipt with the date and amount of corn he delivers
In 2006 Benjamin started with six customers and ended the heating season with 85 In 2007 he was maxed out with more than 150 customers Placing his bins at corn stove dealers netted most of his customers
It s critical to keep the delivery radius to 25 miles maximum Benjamin says After that it s not cost effective and it just takes too much time
At the beginning of the 2007 heating season he set the price at $4 48/bushel or $160/ton delivered though he knew corn prices could rise Customers appreciate knowing that the price will remain the same all winter Benjamin says We re delivering corn for about the same as what it costs them to pick it up he adds and his customers -- many who live in the suburbs -- appreciate the convenience Once people have had good corn delivered to their house they won t go back to picking it up
Benjamin s customers use an average of one ton of corn/month and they call him when they need more
Benjamin sells the bins for $859 and customers have the option to lease them for 1 cent/lb of corn the first year After testing the service for a year they can apply the amount they paid to purchasing the bin About 130 customers have Benjamin s bins
I get calls from all over the Midwest from people who think it s a good idea but there s no farmer in their area willing to do it he says Benjamin is willing to work with farmers interested in setting up a business similar to his by selling them bins at a wholesale rate minimum of five bins and offering advice
Despite rising corn prices Benjamin believes corn stoves will continue to be popular The cost of corn will still be less than other fuels he says and many customers prefer to support a local person rather than a foreign fuel company
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Todd Benjamin Webberville Mich ph 517 749-9101; tbenjamin@tlccorn com; www tlccorn com

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