Meet the Factor: Heat Damage
Heat damage is a grading factor that can affect several crops and have a significant impact on grade, value, and end use. It most often develops during drying or storage, when grain or oilseeds are exposed to elevated temperatures for extended periods of time.
Because heat damage signals underlying stress, it is closely monitored across the supply chain.
What Is Heat Damage?
Heat damage occurs when grain or oilseeds are exposed to temperatures high enough to alter their physical appearance and internal quality. Depending on the crop and severity, this can appear as darkened colour, scorching, brittleness, or internal discoloration.
Once heat damage occurs, the quality loss is permanent.
Why Does Heat Damage Matter?
Heat damage affects quality in several important ways:
Grading and value: Heat damaged kernels or seeds can lead to grade reductions and pricing discounts.
Processing performance: Heat stress changes how grain behaves in milling, crushing, or other processing steps.
Storage risk: Heat damage often indicates uneven moisture or airflow, increasing the risk of further deterioration.
How Heat Damage Develops
Heat damage typically results from post-harvest handling rather than field conditions. Common causes include:
Drying temperatures that are too high for the crop
Uneven drying or insufficient cooling before storage
Hot spots forming in bins due to moisture migration
Limited airflow or delayed intervention during storage
How Heat Damage Affects Different Crops
Soybeans
Heat damage in soybeans can reduce oil yield, affect meal quality, and increase processing losses. Darkened or brittle beans are more likely to break during handling and can lower overall grade.
Wheat and Barley
In cereal grains, heat damage can alter kernel colour and internal structure, affecting milling performance, flour colour, and consistency in baking or malting.
Peas and Lentils
For pulses, heat damage may cause discoloration, cracking, or texture changes that reduce visual appeal and export quality.
What Can Farmers Do?
Farmers can reduce the risk of heat damage by:
Using crop appropriate drying temperatures
Managing airflow and cooling after drying
Monitoring stored grain and oilseeds through fall and winter
Checking samples before delivery to understand quality changes early
What Can Graders and Buyers Do?
Heat damage can range from obvious to subtle. Consistency in evaluation is important, especially when damage is light or mixed within a sample.
Objective tools that provide consistent evaluation conditions can support graders by improving repeatability across samples, shifts, and locations, and by making it easier to communicate results clearly.
How Ground Truth Ag Can Help
Our benchtop MV/NIRs technology supports consistent identification of heat damage by evaluating each kernal using machine vision and learning and applying objective analysis. This helps farmers, graders, and processors understand quality earlier and make informed decisions across the supply chain.
Contact us today to book a demo.