Working with farmers on grain-bin systems

PEORIA, Ill. — Valley View Agri-Systems provides farmers total service from design to a completed grain-handling system.

“We’re with the job from pouring the concrete all the way to completing the bin so it’s ready to go,” said Richard Noll, account manager for Valley View Agri-Systems.

“We go out and visit the customer to see what they would like and what fits their needs,” Noll said at the company’s booth during the Greater Peoria Farm Show. “We have an engineering team that will customize the system for the farmer.”

Every farm and farmer is different, Noll said. “Farmers are different in what they like and don’t like and we can accommodate them.”

Celebrating 40 years in business, Valley View Agri-Systems has three full-service offices in Divernon, Illinois; Cleveland, Mississippi; and the corporate office in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

“We typically stock 36-, 42- and 48-feet diameter bins, which are the most popular sizes, but if it’s a size we don’t have in stock, we can still get it done,” Noll said. “The 50,000-bushel bin is the most common since farms are growing fast and getting bigger.”

The company constructs grain-handling systems across a wide geographic area that includes Florida and Texas up to North Dakota and Wisconsin, with lots of states in between. “We stock grain bins so getting them built fast is something we pride ourselves on,” Noll said.

“We also stock a lot of portable equipment that includes swing-away augers, truck augers and belt conveyors,” he said.

Valley View also assists farmers with updating their existing grain-handling systems. “We have farmers who want to add rings to their existing bin, put a new floor in, put a new unload in or move their fan to a different spot in the bin,” Noll said. “We have those capabilities as well so we’re not just selling new bins, we do a lot of retrofitting.”

Providing service to their customers is the focus for Valley View. “We don’t want to just sell a customer a bin and then disappear,” Noll stressed. “We look at it as a partnership, we stand by customer service.”

Service teams visit farms for pre-harvest work. “We go through all the equipment to make sure it’s ready to go for harvest,” the account manager said. “During harvest time, staying up and running is the most important thing.”

MANAGING BIN STORAGE

BinManager by AGI SureTrack can be added to grain handling systems to help farmers manage their grain during storage. “It not only monitors moisture and temperature, you can also automate the fans based on weather data and your ZIP code,” Noll explained. “It will run the fans at the optimal times to keep the grain in better quality.”

The bin management system can be monitored through a phone app, laptop computer or tablet. “You can see what’s going on inside your bin — the movement of the moisture and temperature,” he said. “Farmers love it because it’s easy.”

The system can also assist farmers with selling their grain. “It gives farmers the ability to look at what co-ops are paying for grain in their area,” Noll said. “They may be able to make a little more money if they drive an extra 10 miles up the road.”

Valley View has certified installation crews for the BinManager system. “They will come to your farm, install it and service it,” he said. “There are so many different things you can do with the BinManager — I’ve sold it to farmers that use it for bin drying or re-hydrating beans.”

For more information about Valley View Agri-Systems, call 217-628-6217 or go to www.valleyviewagri.com.