Fundamentals and Prospects for the Technologies Development for Post-Harvest Grain Processing and Seed Preparation

The authors identifi ed the main factors that infl uenced signifi cantly the technological support of post-harvest processing processes over the past decades. They showed that in recent years, many farms faced the necessity to solve the problem of improving the seeds quality and reducing their losses in the process of post-harvest processing of grain in the shortest possible time. (Research purpose) To conduct a historical analysis of machine technologies for post-harvest grain processing and seed preparation and determine promising directions for their development. (Materials and methods) The authors used the historicalanalytical method applied to technical systems, in particular, to technologies of post-harvest grain processing and seed preparation. The research objects were the original works of domestic and foreign authors for more than a 100-year period and other regulatory and technical documentation. (Results and discussion) The authors presented the results of the machine technologies for postharvest grain processing and seed preparation evolution in the Russian Federation over the past 100 years. They considered the scientifi c, technological, technical and organizational issues of the machine technologies for grain processing and seed preparation development. It was determined that the scientifi c foundations for creating domestic separating machines were developed in the 30s of the last century. They noted that in 1934 the fi rst domestic mobile grain cleaning machine with a capacity of 10 tons per hour for cleaning grain and 6-8 tons per hour for cleaning seeds was created and put into production. The following key stages were identifi ed: in the 60s, an in-line technology of post-harvest grain processing was developed; by the end of the 70s, with the completion of work on the creation of units and complexes, all processes of post-harvest grain processing for the fi rst time in the country were fully mechanized. (Conclusions) The authors proved that labor productivity in the industry increased 7-10 times, the cost of grain processing decreased 2-3 times, its losses decreased, manual, unskilled labor was excluded. They identifi ed promising directions for the development of grain processing and seed preparation technologies.