“Even with a 40 percent increase in the volume of grains handled and processed since the OSHA grain-handling standard was promulgated in 1988, the number of incidents has steadily declined over the past 10 years,” Ambrose said. “Keeping the facility clean, training employees and contract workers, keeping equipment in good working condition by preventive maintenance and the use of dust explosion suppression systems and venting systems are good prevention practices.”

"We hope this will help us to advance and speed up our breeding pipelines to generate the next seeds and the next agriculture products earlier than we could before so we can generate more food to feed the whole world," Jin said.

Modern sows are having more piglets than ever, and feeding those larger litters results in higher body temperatures. Air conditioning farrowing houses isn’t feasible, but Purdue University researchers have a solution: personal pig cooling pads.

The article features the work of Tom Campbell and Nicholas Cook

ASABE is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems. Further information on the Society can be obtained by contacting ASABE at (269) 429-0300, emailing hq@asabe.org or visiting www.asabe.org/.

Progeny co-founder Anthony Hearst, a PhD candidate in ABE, is one of the recipients of the Ag-celerator funding.