A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains or seeds from rodents, pests, floods, and adverse weather conditions. They also assist in drying the grains to prevent mold growth. Modern granaries may incorporate advanced ventilation and temperature control systems to preserve the quality of the stored grains.
From ancient times grain has been stored in bulk. [1] The oldest granaries yet found date back to 9500 BC [2] and are located in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A settlements in the Jordan Valley. The first were located in places between other buildings. However beginning around 8500 BC, they were moved inside houses, and by 7500 BC storage occurred in special rooms. [2] The first granaries measured 3 x 3 m on the outside and had suspended floors that protected the grain from rodents and insects and provided air circulation. [2]
These granaries are followed by those in Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley from 6000 BC. The ancient Egyptians made a practice of preserving grain in years of plenty against years of scarcity. The climate of Egypt is very dry, grain could be stored in pits for a long time without discernible loss of quality. [1]
Historically, a silo was a pit for storing grain. It is distinct from a granary, which is an above-ground structure.
Simple storage granaries raised on four or more posts appeared in the Yangshao culture in China and after the onset of intensive agriculture in the Korean peninsula during the Mumun pottery period (c. 1000 B.C.) as well as in the Japanese archipelago during the Final Jōmon/Early Yayoi periods (c. 800 B.C.). In the archaeological vernacular of Northeast Asia, these features are lumped with those that may have also functioned as residences and together are called 'raised floor buildings'.
China built an elaborate system designed to minimize famine deaths. The system was destroyed in the Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s. [3] [4] [5]
In vernacular architecture of Indonesian archipelago granaries are made of wood and bamboo materials and most of them are built and raised on four or more posts to avoid rodents and pests. Examples of Indonesian granaries styles are the Sundanese leuit and Minang rangkiang .
In the South Hams in southwest Great Britain, small granaries were built on mushroom-shaped stumps called staddle stones. They were built of timber-frame construction and often had slate roofs. Larger ones were similar to linhays but with the upper floor enclosed. Access to the first floor was usually via a stone staircase on the outside wall. [6]
Towards the close of the 19th century, warehouses specially intended for holding grain began to multiply in Great Britain. There are climatic difficulties in the way of storing grain in Great Britain on a large scale, but these difficulties have been largely overcome. [1]
Grain must be kept away from moisture for as long as possible to preserve it in good condition and prevent mold growth. Newly harvested grain brought into a granary tends to contain excess moisture, which encourages mold growth leading to fermentation and heating, both of which are undesirable and affect quality. Fermentation generally spoils grain and may cause chemical changes that create poisonous mycotoxins.
One traditional remedy is to spread the grain in thin layers on a floor, where it is turned to aerate it thoroughly. Once the grain is sufficiently dry it can be transferred to a granary for storage. Today, this can be done using a mechanical grain auger to move grain from one granary to another.
In modern silos, grain is typically force-aerated in situ or circulated through external grain drying equipment.
Modern grain farming operations often use manufactured steel granaries to store grain on-site until it can be trucked to major storage facilities in anticipation of shipping. The large mechanized facilities, particularly seen in Russia and North America are known as grain elevators.
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Pigs can eat hay, but do not digest it as efficiently as herbivores do.
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain. As a result, the term barn is often qualified e.g. tobacco barn, dairy barn, cow house, sheep barn, potato barn. In the British Isles, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and fodder, the terms byre or shippon being applied to cow shelters, whereas horses are kept in buildings known as stables. In mainland Europe, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as byre-dwellings. In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace, and for activities such as threshing.
Silage is fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ensilage, ensiling, or silaging. The exact methods vary, depending on available technology, local tradition and prevailing climate.
Tempeh or tempe is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, Rhizopus oligosporus or Rhizopus oryzae, is used in the fermentation process and is also known as tempeh starter.
The Sundanese are an indigenous ethnic group native to the western region of Java island in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. They speak the Sundanese language, which is part of the Austronesian languages.
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials.
A buffer stock scheme is a price stabilization scheme in which surplus commodities are bought and stored for later sale during shortages, usually for an individual commodity market or an entire economy.
Staddle stones, or steddle stones, were originally used as supporting bases for granaries, hayricks, game larders, etc. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground, thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage. In Middle English staddle, or stadle, is stathel, from Old English stathol, a foundation, support or trunk of a tree. They can be mainly found in Great Britain, Norway ("stabbur"), Galicia and Asturias.
A rice barn is a type of barn used worldwide for the storage and drying of harvested rice. The barns' designs are usually specialized to their function, and as such may vary between countries or between provinces. Rice barns in Southeast Asia appear quite different from rice barns found in other parts of the rice cultivating world. In the United States rice barns were once common throughout the state of South Carolina.
Grain bins are bulk storage structures for dry wheat, soybean, maize, oats, barley and more. Grain bins are cylinders made of corrugated sheets or sheet metal with a coned metal roof that has vents. The floors of grain bins have aeration systems to keep good air flow through the commodities and keep it at a good temperature and humidity level to prevent spoilage. At the top of each grain bin there are tubed conveyors to transport the grain. The grain bin sits on top of a strong concrete base to help the structure withstand high winds and the massive weight from the grain.
The John Scott Farm is a historic farmstead near the community of Shandon, Ohio, United States. Established in the nineteenth century and still in operation in the twenty-first, the farmstead has been named a historic site because of its traditionally built agricultural structures.
Batak architecture refers to the related architectural traditions and designs of the various Batak peoples of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Six groups of Batak speak separate but related languages: the Angkola, the Mandailing to the south, the Toba, to the north the Pakpak/Dairi, the Simalungun, and the Karo. While the groups are now Muslim or Christian, elements of the ancient Batak religion remain, particularly amongst the Karo.
Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of the process when the required enzymes are optimal. Among other things, the enzymes convert starch to sugars such as maltose, maltotriose and maltodextrines.
The Nelson Farm is a historic farmstead in rural Merrick County, in the east central part of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Originally settled by Swedish immigrants in 1879, it was expanded and improved over the subsequent eighty years and more, remaining in the founder's family into the fourth and fifth generations.
Huangjiu is a type of Chinese rice wine (mijiu) most popular in the Jiangnan area. Huangjiu is brewed by mixing steamed grains including rice, glutinous rice or millet with qū as starter culture, followed by saccharification and fermentation at around 13–18 °C (55–64 °F) for fortnights. Its alcohol content is typically 8% to 20%.
Rangkiang is a granary or rice barn that the Minangkabau people used to keep rice in. The rangkiang is a distinctive feature of Minangkabau architecture. The structure is traditionally found in the courtyard of a rumah gadang, the traditional house of Minangkabau people.
Kairi Maize Silos are heritage-listed silos at 22 Godfrey Road, Kairi, Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. They were designed and built in 1924 by Henry Simon Ltd. They were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 8 August 2007.
Sundanese traditional house refers to the traditional vernacular houses of the Sundanese people, who predominantly inhabited the western parts of Java island, Indonesia. The architecture of a Sundanese house is characterized by its functionality, simplicity, modesty, uniformity with a little detail, its use of natural thatched materials, and the quite faithful adherence to harmony with nature and the environment.
Leuit is a type of vernacular rice barn found in the Sundanese architecture of Western Java, Indonesia. It used to store rice after harvest for future and daily use. A leuit is an essential part of Sundanese agricultural tradition, especially during annual Seren Taun harvest ceremony. In Sundanese tradition, leuit symbolizes sustenance and livelihood.
An outbuilding, sometimes called an accessory building or a dependency, is a building that is part of a residential or agricultural complex but detached from the main sleeping and eating areas. Outbuildings are generally used for some practical purpose, rather than decoration or purely for leisure, although luxury greenhouses such as orangeries or ferneries may also be considered outbuildings. This article is limited to buildings that would typically serve one property, separate from community-scale structures such as gristmills, water towers, fire towers, or parish granaries. Outbuildings are typically detached from the main structure, so places like wine cellars, root cellars and cheese caves may or may not be termed outbuildings depending on their placement. A buttery, on the other hand, is never an outbuilding because by definition is it is integrated into the main structure.