Farming Smarter: Wagner Farms Makes Stove Corn Advancements

Farming smarter and different than the rest, Wagner Farms has created a sustainable process that dries their stove corn consistently with each load.

For several years, Wagner Farms has been producing Stove Corn: a bio-fuel that is an alternative renewable energy heating source. Corn burns hotter, can produce less ash, and be a cost effective heating alternative if the burner is designed correctly.

Stove corn has been around for a while, produced by many other growers, however Wagner Farms took it one step further and added several steps to its production process to give customers a more reliable and consistent product.

In fact, in order to further their commitment to being more green and reducing carbon emissions, they have now installed a Bio-fuel burning heat source as part of their drying system for their corn. This means that all corn produced on the farm is now dried with alternative energy.

Traditionally, the end-user must sieve or clean the stove corn themselves before placing it in their stove to burn. This takes extra time and, because not every producer follows the same cleaning and drying procedure, burning habits are dramatically different for each load of stove corn depending on the producer.

Carrying on a tradition of adapting and adjusting, Wagner Farms is doing it differently yet again. They have taken on the drying process of their corn, using their custom-built popcorn drying micro-unit to dry grain corn, turning it into stove corn. As it dries, the dust collection system removes all fine dust and matter from the mix. Then, the corn is removed via vacuum system and cleaned a second time to remove the finest dust particles. Finally, a mechanical screen and sieve are used to sort out the over-sized, cracked and split kernels and cob debris and properly size the corn for burning.

Wagner Farms prides itself on managing their crops very carefully and using modern growing methods that reduce environmental impacts.

It has taken years to get the system tuned in and adjusted to the point where Wagner Farms is confident in its product and reputation as a stove corn producer. Their corn burning system can be used on multiple crops including soybeans, sunflowers in addition. Next year, they plan to take crop by-products such as straw, corn cobs, even surplus of cardboard, pelletize and burn them to produce heating source for drying corn.

If you're ready to try stove corn for your own heating source, you can pick it up locally at Wagner Farms. For more info please contact Wagner Farms via Facebook or stop in at the farm.