FARMINGTON – The steady whir of pumps pressurizing air to dry corn kernels inside a tall, round, silver grain bin is new this year at Sandy River Farms.

The corn is loaded straight from the field into the bins at 23 percent moist, then spends six weeks in the new ambient air-drying system to get to 15 percent moist for use as feed or fuel. The dried corn can be stored up to a year.

The newest bin, located south of Bussie and Brenda York’s farmhouse, has the capacity to store 15,000 bushels or corn, or 750,000 pounds. It was erected this year with the air pump system for about $50,000. The Yorks received a $15,510 federal grant this summer to help make their farm operation more energy efficient.

With the added bin and two smaller existing bins, there is enough storage capacity for 30,000 bushels of corn, or 1.5 million pounds, Bussie York said. That’s double what they had last year. One bin is used for organic corn to feed the animals.

“We’re the first one in the state to put in this type of ambient air-drying system,” he said.

The pumps are in their fourth week of operation as of Tuesday and will shut down after two more.

A propane drying system was used in the past. Though it took just three hours to dry the corn, it cost 50 percent more to run than the ambient air system, York said.

“Rather than update old equipment, we decided to use the newer type processing system,” he said.

The Yorks own 600 acres total, including 2 miles of connected fields along Farmington Falls Road. They grow about 200 acres of corn, 40 acres of soybeans, 60 to 70 acres of oats and 20 acres of tritical (a mix of winter wheat and rye) yearly.

Once the corn is dried, it is put in a tank and dropped through a barn roof into a cleaning machine. The wooden machine, which is fitted with pulleys and different levels, shakes and pulls the corn as it moves through, releasing dirt and other foreign objects.

The corn is then weighed and bagged in 50-pound increments in an electronic system.

“We can bag 4 tons an hour,” he said.

Then it is either sold or used as fuel.

More than a decade ago, York thought about burning corn for fuel. He bought a corn burning stove to see how it worked.

Only since technology in the stoves improved has he ventured into the business selling corn pellets and stoves and furnaces this year.

This is just another opportunity, another method of marketing, York said.

“It’s a value-added product,” he said.

In York’s farmhouse den on Friday, flames steadily flickered behind a glass-front door on a stove set close to a Christmas tree.

The stove, which is electrically powered and air tight, produces 50,000 BTUs, enough to heat a 2,500-square-foot house. The stove is just warm to the touch in front, but cool on top, where the corn pellets are located before dropping into a burning pot.

A hundred pounds of corn will heat a large house, such as his farmhouse for 48 hours, he said. The bags cost $6 per 50 pounds.

Outside, a small chimney sticks out from the house maybe 18 inches or so, parallel to the ground. Waves of heat are emitted but no smoke.

Residue patties of burned corn, which are used as potting soil, are in a plastic barrel.

There is about 1 pound of residue for 100 pounds of corn.

“It runs at 99-percent efficiency,” York said of the stove, and is more environmentally friendly than other fossil fuels.