How much money could be hiding in the fines, foreign material, and damaged kernels moving through your grain system? The Farm4Profit crew sits down with Kyle of KWF and Grain Tech to talk about his unlikely path from welding helicopter spray booms to manufacturing grain-handling equipment—and why he believes grain cleaning deserves more attention from farmers.
Kyle Kirchhoff joins Farm4Profit for a conversation about manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and an often-overlooked piece of grain management: grain quality. Kyle shares how growing up on a Southwest Iowa farm, studying welding and metallurgy, and starting a small repair business eventually led to KWF and the acquisition of the Magik Grain Cleaners product line.
The discussion digs into how removing fines, cracked kernels, weed seeds, dirt, and other foreign material can improve airflow and grain storage while potentially reducing discounts at delivery. Kyle explains how the gravity-fed cleaners work without an external power source, where they can fit into a farm's grain-handling system, and why different crops and specialty markets require different screen configurations.
The guys also tackle the question every farmer wants answered: Does grain cleaning actually pay? Kyle shares examples ranging from avoiding dockage and rejected specialty grain to a North Dakota customer who said the savings from one bin could have paid for his cleaner. They also explore portable cleaning systems, potential drying and airflow efficiencies, cleaning versus scalping, and whether cleaner grain could become another tool for protecting the value of every bushel farmers produce.