How a grain elevator works

Hutchinson-area resident Wade Spencer, sales engineer with Dallas-based Maxi-Lift, which manufactures elevator buckets, gave Kansas Agland a look at how a grain elevator works. A truck filled with grain stops at probing area to get sample for grading then enters on the elevator scale and is weighed.

Trucks then dump the grain into a pit where it is moved upward to the top of the elevator in buckets, Spencer said. Grain is directed to bins depending on different factors, including quality, protein levels, moisture, and the type of grain, said Spencer, who used to work at Hutchinson's ADM facility.