Stay Informed

For many Indiana farmers, a 3,200-bushel grain bin may be more of a hindrance than a help. But in a poor country, it could literally improve lives, according to Ken Perkins.

Perkins, an INFB member in Wabash County, is involved in an effort to locate unneeded grain bins, specifically the 3,200-bushel bins that were distributed by the U.S. government years ago, disassemble them and ship them to Laos, where they’ll be reassembled and used by needy villages.

“One ‘government bin’ that is often not useful to an American farmer can change the life of a Laotian village,” Perkins said. “The average village size is 70 families, so nearly 500 people can use the drying capacity of a single bin.”

The grain bin donation program is through a non-profit organization known as Team Expansion. Perkins said Team Expansion isn’t directly involved in the collection effort, but it will issue a tax-deductible donation voucher after the bin has been picked up.

The bins will be disassembled by volunteers, then collected and stored in a shipping container. The container will travel from the West Coast to Thailand by ship and then to Laos on trucks. Villages in the north and south are being identified for these bins.

To be eligible for donation, each bin:

• Should be located in northern Indiana to reduce travel time for the disassembly crew. If there are clusters of six or more bins, “We can travel farther,” Perkins said.
• Needs to be in reasonably good condition.
• Should be one of the 18-foot-diameter, 3,200-bushel bins that were distributed by the U.S. government in the 1960s.

Laos is the target for this effort partly because it is one of the poorest, least developed countries in the world.

Another reason, Perkins added, is that Laotian farmers are trying to improve their livestock, and corn is a great way to do that – and yet corn requires storage that most villages simply don’t have.

“For the Lao village farmer, corn is a relatively new crop. They have figured out it is a great animal feed, even better than rice,” he said. But rice is stored with its hull intact, so it isn’t as affected by humidity as corn is, and it also is less vulnerable to insects and rodents.

“Some development organizations say as much as 30% of the corn crop is lost each year,” Perkins said.

“We have designed a simple drier with a heat exchanger that is attached to the grain bin. The bins will serve the village as a little co-op for grain drying and storage, and the corn will then be fed to the village’s pigs and poultry,” he added.

 Perkins, who has been involved in agricultural development in Laos since 2005, feels called to this work through his faith.

“As a follower of Christ, I believe we are called to feed the body, mind and soul. Food is precious, so helping the Lao villagers keep their grain to feed animals instead of having to sell it to Thai, Chinese or Vietnamese buyers at harvest helps feed livestock and provides much needed protein,” he added.

For more information about the donation program, contact Ken Perkins at middle.earth.perk@gmail.com or 260-568-2668.