Material Handling Equipment Built for Agriculture
Farming doesn’t wait for equipment to be ready. When grain is flowing, seed needs planting, or livestock feed needs processing, the machines handling those materials need to work — right now, in whatever conditions the day brings. Dust, moisture, temperature swings, uneven terrain, and the relentless pace of harvest season test equipment in ways that climate-controlled manufacturing environments never will.
Custom Conveyor & Equipment Corporation is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — in the middle of the agricultural heartland. We’ve been building material handling equipment here since 1984, and agriculture has been part of our work from the beginning. We understand the demands of this industry because we see it operating around us every day, and we’ve built equipment for the operations that keep it running.
Agricultural Material Handling Is Its Own Category
The materials agriculture needs to move don’t behave like manufactured parts on an assembly line. Grain flows like a liquid until it bridges in a hopper. Seed is fragile enough that rough handling damages germination rates. Fertilizer is corrosive and hygroscopic. Silage is wet, heavy, and acidic. Animal feed comes in every form from fine powder to large pellets. Each material has specific handling characteristics that determine what type of conveyor system works and what type fails.
Agricultural operations also face environmental conditions that most industrial equipment isn’t designed for. Outdoor installations exposed to rain, snow, wind, and direct sunlight. Temperature ranges from well below zero during winter processing to over 100°F in summer harvest operations. Dust levels that would trigger alarms in a manufacturing facility are the normal operating environment in grain handling. Equipment needs to function reliably across this full range without the climate control and regular maintenance schedules that factory equipment receives.
Grain Handling Systems
Moving grain efficiently from field delivery through storage, processing, and loadout is the backbone of agricultural material handling. The volumes are massive — a single farm operation might handle millions of bushels during harvest season, and commercial grain elevators process far more.
Our grain handling conveyors include drag chain conveyors for horizontal and inclined grain transport, belt conveyors for high-volume long-distance runs between storage and processing facilities, and bucket elevators for vertical lifting. Each is designed for the specific grain types being handled — corn, soybeans, wheat, and specialty crops all have different density, moisture content, and fragility characteristics that affect conveyor specification.
Grain quality preservation is critical. Conveyor systems that crack kernels, generate excessive fines, or allow moisture intrusion during transport reduce the value of every bushel that passes through them. We design transfer points, loading sections, and discharge areas to minimize impact damage and maintain grain quality from receiving through loadout.
Seed Processing and Handling
Seed is grain’s more demanding cousin. Everything that matters for grain handling — gentle transport, minimal breakage, contamination prevention — matters even more for seed, where a cracked seed coat means a seed that won’t germinate and a cross-contamination event between seed varieties can require cleaning the entire system before the next lot can be processed.
Our seed handling conveyors use low-impact transfer designs, smooth belt surfaces that don’t abrade seed coats, and cleanout features that allow thorough purging between seed varieties. Enclosed construction prevents contamination from dust, moisture, and foreign material. Speed control keeps seed velocities in the range that minimizes mechanical damage without reducing throughput below the levels your processing schedule requires.
Mobile Equipment and Field Platforms
Not all agricultural conveyor applications are permanent installations. Mobile platforms for field operations — seed tenders, fertilizer applicators, harvest support equipment — need conveyor systems that are compact, lightweight, and built to survive the vibration and impact loads of travel over rough terrain.
We design lightweight conveyance systems for mobile platforms that deliver the material handling function needed while respecting the weight and space constraints of equipment that needs to move between fields, fit through gates, and travel on public roads. These aren’t scaled-down versions of stationary industrial conveyors — they’re purpose-built for the mobile application, using materials and construction methods that balance durability with the weight sensitivity mobile equipment demands.
Feed Processing and Livestock Operations
Livestock operations need to move feed ingredients from storage through mixing, processing, and delivery to feeding locations. The materials range from whole corn and soybeans to ground meals, pelleted feed, liquid supplements, and forage — each with different flow characteristics and handling requirements.
Our conveyors for feed operations handle the full range of feed materials. Drag chain conveyors move bulk ingredients from storage bins to mixer infeed. Belt conveyors transport finished feed from processing to storage or direct to feeding stations. Enclosed conveyor designs prevent the contamination and pest access issues that open handling creates. Corrosion-resistant construction handles the moisture and chemical exposure that supplements, minerals, and liquid feed ingredients introduce.
Processing and Separation Equipment
Agricultural processing often involves separating materials — cleaning grain to remove chaff and foreign material, sizing seed by diameter, separating good product from damaged product. Conveyor systems feeding and connecting separation equipment need to deliver material at controlled, consistent rates that allow the separation equipment to operate effectively.
We build metering conveyors that provide the consistent feed rates vibratory separators, gravity tables, and air classifiers require. Conveyor systems between sequential separation stages transport processed material without remixing fractions that the previous stage separated. Collection conveyors gather separated product streams and route them to the appropriate storage or packaging destination.
Durability for Agricultural Environments
Agricultural equipment operates in conditions that accelerate wear and failure on components designed for cleaner environments. Here’s how we build for agricultural durability:
Sealed bearings rated for dust and moisture exposure, with service intervals that match realistic agricultural maintenance schedules — not the daily lubrication intervals that factory equipment assumes
Corrosion-resistant construction where exposure to fertilizer, chemicals, moisture, and acidic materials like silage would deteriorate standard carbon steel
Abrasion-resistant surfaces at loading points, discharge areas, and belt contact zones where high-volume grain and seed flow concentrates wear
Accessible maintenance points designed for the tools and skills available on-farm — not specialized tooling and factory-trained technicians
Robust electrical systems with sealed enclosures, strain-relieved wiring, and moisture-resistant connections that survive the dust and weather agricultural installations encounter
Built in Iowa, for Iowa and Beyond
Our Cedar Rapids location puts us in the center of America’s agricultural economy. We understand the seasonal urgency of agricultural equipment needs — when harvest is approaching and your handling equipment isn’t ready, that’s not a procurement inconvenience, it’s a crisis. We manage our production schedule to accommodate the seasonal demands of agricultural customers, and our in-house fabrication capabilities — 3kW fiber laser, 300-ton press brake, multi-material welding, and complete assembly — give us control over the build schedule without depending on external suppliers who don’t understand agricultural timing.
Talk to Us About Your Agricultural Material Handling
Whether you’re building new grain handling infrastructure, upgrading seed processing equipment, adding capacity for a growing livestock operation, or developing mobile field equipment that needs reliable material conveyance, we want to hear about your project. Call (319) 449-3322 or reach out through our contact page. We’ll talk about your materials, your volumes, your operating environment, and your timeline — then design equipment that works when you need it most.
