How Portable Grain Protein Analyzers are Transforming Agricultural Quality Control

Grain protein levels are a key factor in determining the value and use of a grain. Being able to measure the protein accurately therefore makes it easier to ensure high quality at every step on the grain production path, from seed to table. Near-Infrared (NIR) grain analyzers have transformed the accuracy, speed and efficiency of the analysis, leading to a transformation in agricultural quality control.

Key Takeaways:

• Grain protein analysis is crucial to businesses throughout the grain production process. Accuracy benefits everyone, ensuring that grain grows well, is used appropriately, and fetches a fair price. 
• Timing in agriculture is critical, and so the real-time results provided by NIR analyzers empowers agricultural businesses to make the right data-driven decisions at the time when they’re most relevant. 
• Handheld, easy to use devices that sync results to agricultural businesses’ internal systems help elevate the granular data of agricultural quality control to match the needs of the modern agricultural industry. 

What are Grain Protein Analyzers?

A grain protein analyzer is a specialized instrument designed to quickly and accurately measure the protein content in grains like wheat, barley, corn, and soybeans. This is a critical factor in the agricultural and food industries, as protein content directly influences the grain’s quality, nutritional value, and market price.

Why Grain Protein Matters

Protein content is one of the most important elements that determines the value and best use of a grain. As such, it’s a factor that’s vital to businesses no matter where they sit in the grain production process. 

Farmers need to measure the protein content of their grain to sort it by quality, helping them receive a better price for higher-protein batches. It also helps them to make informed decisions about storage and blending – factors which also ultimately impact the final value of the crop.

Grain traders and processors also need to know the protein composition of a grain so that they can assess its quality. Speed is important here as well, because analysis frequently needs to happen as the grain is coming in from suppliers. They need to ensure that the grain meets their specifications, so that pricing can be fair. Processors also use the information to optimize their milling or processing plans.

Further along the line, food manufacturers that use grains to make products like bread, pasta, or cereals rely on protein analyzers to ensure consistent quality in their final products, as protein content heavily influences the final texture and taste. Different protein levels in a grain determine which kinds of products it is best suited to make. 

Traditional vs. Modern Grain Protein Testing

For centuries, the most reliable method of agricultural quality control was a farmer’s intuition, based on years of experience. More recently, that intuition was enhanced by data gained from laboratory analysis. A grain protein tester in a lab could determine the level of protein in a sample with a high level of precision, enabling data-driven decisions about grains, seeds, harvest time, and so on. 

Laboratory testing was useful, but it came with a lot of limitations. Among them:

• Small sample size reduces accuracy. The small sample sizes that are used for lab analysis mean that any given sample is potentially not representative of the total load of grain. This reduces the accuracy of the results, and therefore how much you can rely on them.  
• Delay. Taking the sample, transporting it to the lab, preparing it for analysis, and waiting for the results, all takes time. That can be problematic when conditions out in the field change quickly, altering the composition of the grain. When the optimal harvest time arrives, no one can afford to wait. Sometimes even a small delay can negatively affect the value of the harvest. 
• Expertise required. Laboratory analysis, by nature, requires expertise. That increases the price of the analysis, and also limits the ease and availability of testing. 

Lab tests were helpful, but because of the limitations inherent in the method, farmers often fell back on their tried and tested intuition. And, often, it was impressively accurate. 

However, as protein became more and more sought after in many countries, and millers increasingly emphasized the importance of accurate protein analysis in determining which grains were used for which purposes, higher levels of precision became more and more valuable. 

NIR grain analyzers rose to the occasion. With these grain protein testers, farmers could achieve as much accuracy in measurement as in a laboratory setting – but with a handheld, portable device that could be used by anyone, without any training, and give results in real time, right in the field. 

How Grain Protein Analyzers Work

Using NIR spectroscopy as their core technology, a NIR grain analyzer is simple to use. 

You simply take a sample of whole or ground grain, and put it into a device like a SCIO Cup. Inside the device, the analyzer shines near-infrared light onto the sample. NIR light is absorbed differently by the chemical bonds in the grain’s molecules, particularly the N-H bonds in proteins, so the unique pattern of light absorption forms an accurate picture of the grain’s chemical composition.

The grain testing equipment then interprets this picture to determine the precise protein content, as well as other quality parameters like moisture, fat, and starch.

From the user point of view, what happens is that they put the sample into the cup, press a button – and get accurate results within seconds. 

Key Benefits for Agricultural Quality Control

Agricultural quality control relies on accurate data. Using a handheld grain protein analyzer empowers agricultural businesses with the precise data they need about their grain, in real time. NIR analyzers have a number of advantages that make them a good fit for agricultural quality control, including:

• Instant results. Time is of the essence when it comes to harvesting, and is often crucial elsewhere in the grain pipeline as well. Real-time results are essential. 
• Non-destructive. With non-destructive analysis, you can take more samples, increasing the overall accuracy of your analysis. 
• No expertise required. These analyzers are easy and intuitive to use, and designed to be used out of doors no matter the weather, wherever they’re needed. 
• Data integration. It’s simple to get the data from these gadgets automatically synced with your existing systems, so that all the information you need from the field is integrated with the data you have elsewhere. 
• Independence. This democratized, streamlined form of analysis puts agricultural businesses back into control of the process of understanding the composition of their own grain. 

As an additional benefit, a NIR grain protein analyzer can also provide valuable information about other features of the grain, acting as a grain moisture analyzer as well.

In a lot of ways, these grain protein analyzers are an ideal match for the kind of agricultural quality control that the modern world already requires. 

FAQs

Can grain protein analyzers test grains quickly at harvest?

• Laboratory-dependent mechanisms and processes require sampling and have in-built delay while the samples are taken to a lab. 
• One of the great advantages of a portable NIR grain analyzer, by contrast, is that they can be used on site, during a harvest, in the field, to get accurate results right away. 
• SCIO’s devices are robust and resilient, designed for rugged use. They’re also easy and intuitive to use – no special training or expertise is required. That means that teams working on a harvest can test grains in each field quickly and smoothly as they go. 
• Since the NIR tests are non-destructive, you can do as many tests as you like without affecting the amount of grain you have.

What maintenance do grain protein analyzers require on farms?

• A laboratory dependent setup can require considerable maintenance, which is one of the reasons that many farms still relying on a lab opt to outsource their analysis. 
• A more modern approach, which has gained considerable popularity, is to use handheld NIR analyzers to analyze grain protein instead. These can require very little maintenance. For example, SCIO’s grain protein analyzers rarely need maintenance, and when they do, the devices simply prompt the user through the necessary steps.  

Are grain protein analyzers easy for farmers to use?

This depends on the grain protein analyzer! Traditional laboratory-based methods were not easy for farmers to use, and typically required trained expertise and specialized equipment. However, recent technological advances have brought portable NIR grain protein analyzers to farmers’ hands, and these can be extremely easy to use. SCIO’s analyzers, for example, require no special training or expertise at all, and are designed for use in the field. Essentially they can be used easily by any farmer, in any conditions.

Do grain protein analyzers help meet industry quality standards?

• Absolutely. Grain protein analyzers help to meet certain specifications because they enable being able to segregate, store and transport the grain based on protein levels. They can also help determine which use is most appropriate for a specific harvest of grain. Grain protein analyzers can also be useful when working on developing high protein seeds or strains. 
• Being able to measure in real time, which is possible with modern portable NIR grain protein analyzers, is also valuable, since it means the data is available at any time or stage desired. 

If you have more questions that we haven’t covered in this article, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out!