Case Study
Tracking Organics

Of its seven grain elevators in northeast Nebraska, J.E. Meuret Grain Co.’s 1.3-million-bushel Dakota City Organics elevator in Dakota City, NE (402-833-6999) is the only location dedicated to handling organic grains. The elevator handles organic feed-grade corn and soybeans.

J.E. Meuret Grain acquired the elevator from Cargill in 2018, and after renovations, opened for business in February 2021. Three months later in May, the company installed and began using a SmartTruck automated truck receiving system from CompuWeigh Corp., Woodbury, CT (203-262-9400).

“Meuret has used SmartTruck at other locations,” says Location Manager Jeff Struve. “We like it for increased efficiency, but it’s especially important in an organic operation where accurate paperwork and traceability is critical.”

How it works. Meuret Grain issues RFID cards to drivers who utilize the Dakota City facility. When the driver enters the property, it pulls up to a SmartTouch driver data entry terminal. The RFID card recalls the last load hauled, and the driver either accepts this choice or chooses another customer. The driver also selects the commodity being hauled.

The driver is instructed to pull forward to the scale to be weighed and probed. That information, along with moisture and other factors measured in the grain lab, are entered automatically into CompuWeigh’s IGMS scale software.

The system determines an appropriate storage tank for the load, and the driver is instructed to pull forward to one of two receiving pits to empty the load.

Afterward, the driver pulls onto the same scale in the opposite direction, where a CompuWeigh OTP-4800 Outdoor Ticket Printer prints out a scale ticket.

“It’s been excellent,” Struve says. “Without an automated system, it would be hard for me to hire enough people to run the scalehouse.”

Ed Zdrojewski, editor

From July/August 2022 Grain Journal Issue