Harvesting, grading and storing wheat

Wheat is usually harvested over November/December, but spring and summer wheat can be harvested later.

- 

Only fully ripened wheat grains should be harvested. They should also be dry: harvesting should begin at 16% grain moisture content. For storage, the moisture content should be even lower: no more than 13%. The shattering types should be harvested earlier and dried artificially.

A combined harvester is used to cut, separate, and clean the grain. It must be adjusted properly to minimize grain losses.

PHASES OF HARVESTING WHEAT

• Reaping: in years gone by, the sickle and scythe were used to cut and harvest wheat. Mechanical reapers eventually replaced these hand tools.

• Threshing: the cutting and threshing processes have been combined into a single machine called the combine harvester. This cuts the wheat, threshes out the grain, and stores it in a bin on the machine.