Investment into a grain analyser - How fast does it return?

As with any investment, the question of whether and over what period of time the investment will be returned arises when buying a grain analyser. The following example shows the payback period of an investment in a grain analysis instrument in different cases.

Grain production, grain trade
In the case of selling or buying crops, one way of calculating the payback period may be to compare the additional revenue or cost savings made possible by the use of the instruments with the cost of the investment. As we have shown in our previous article, the additional revenue/cost savings may come from the separation of items of different qualities and from different pricing of items.  In addition, the ability to negotiate with partners in a better bargaining position based on accurate measurement information is a very important aspect of commercial transactions.

The table below shows how the payback period (in years) for the purchase of a high quality NIR grain analyser varies according to the volume of crops and the additional revenue per tonne (example: if we can sell 5000 tonnes of crops per year at a price of 10€/ton because we have separated better quality lots with our NIR instrument, the payback period for the investment in the grain analyser is less than 1 year).

Table 1: Payback period of the investment [years] as a function of crop volume and additional income per tonne.

Crop drying
Similarly good returns can be expected when using NIR grain analysis instruments for crop drying. (It is worth being aware of the fact that infrared technology can measure moisture content very accurately.)

In the case of drying, there is a direct cost implication of accurate moisture content determination: significant savings can be made by avoiding over-drying. The table below shows the payback times for investment in a grain analyser, calculated at a drying cost of 1000 Ft/%/tonne, as a function of the annual quantity dried and the average over-drying costs that can be saved. 

(Example: if, for an annual dried quantity of 10,000 tonnes, an average over-drying of 0.6% per tonne can be avoided by accurate moisture measurement, then a cost of 15.000€ per year can be saved, giving a payback period of 1.3 years.)

Table 2: Payback period of NIR grain analysis investment with overdrying avoidance (years) and the amount of savings with 0.6% overdrying avoidance.