A GRAIN STORAGE INFORMATION-SYSTEM FOR CANADIAN FARMERS AND GRAIN STORAGE MANAGERS

Stored grain is susceptible to invasion by pests or infection by fungi , either of which has the potential to cause economic losses. Research ers have developed improved management techniques, but these new strat egies must be made available to farmers and grain storage managers. Th is paper discusses the development, capabilities, and testing of an ex pert system, the Grain Storage Information System (GSIS), developed to transfer information to western Canadian farmers and grain storage ma nagers. Much of the information used in the GSIS was gathered from the published literature. The current prototype is capable of teaching us ers why certain actions are more likely to be successful than others. Teaching rather than simply dictating instructions should help the use rs gain confidence in the program, allowing it to be used to its full potential. The GSIS functions well as a teaching tool, although it req uires field testing.