Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
If you’ve spent any time driving through rural Ontario, the Midwest, or old farming country, chances are you’ve seen one of these towering blue structures standing beside an old barn. They’re almost impossible to miss. Tall, perfectly round, covered in shiny blue panels, and sometimes standing long after the barns and farms around them have disappeared.
These are the legendary Harvestore silos—better known by some farmers as the “Blue Tombstones.”
And they have an incredible history.
Harvestore systems were introduced as a new way of storing livestock feed. Unlike the traditional concrete or stave silo, Harvestores were built from bolted glass-fused-to-steel panels and designed as oxygen-limiting structures. The idea was to reduce the amount of oxygen contacting the stored feed, helping control fermentation and reduce spoilage. (Publications.gc.ca)
The technology actually had roots in industrial storage tanks. A.O. Smith had experience producing bolted steel tanks, including tanks for the brewing industry, and that technology eventually helped inspire what became the Harvestore agricultural system. (Foxland Incorporated)
For farmers at the time, these things looked like the future.
Feed went into the top while an unloading system removed material from the bottom. Farmers could automate a job that traditionally required considerably more manual labour, and that beautiful blue tower quickly became one of the most recognizable structures on the farm.
By the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s, Harvestores were appearing across farming communities. In southern Ontario alone, research from the University of Waterloo found that 500 farmers purchased one or more Harvestore systems between 1963 and 1986. (Library and Archives Canada)
But there was one major problem:
They were EXPENSIVE.
Buying the silo was one thing. Maintaining the unloading equipment and keeping the entire system operating properly was another. As farming changed and cheaper methods of storing huge quantities of feed became popular, many of these enormous blue towers eventually stopped being used.
That’s where the infamous nickname comes in.
Some farmers began calling them “Blue Tombstones.” The nickname became associated with the financial struggles surrounding some farms that had invested heavily in the systems, particularly around the brutal farm economy of the 1980s. Farmers still tell stories today about seeing expensive Harvestores standing empty on properties where farming operations had disappeared. (Red Power Magazine)
Decades later, many are STILL standing.
That alone tells you something about how incredibly substantial these structures were. You can drive past an abandoned farm where the barn is collapsing, trees have taken over the property, and almost everything else is disappearing—and somehow that giant blue Harvestore is still reaching toward the sky.
Some have been repurposed. Some are still used for agricultural storage. Others have been dismantled, scrapped, or left exactly where they were.
But every one of them represents a fascinating period in agricultural history.
At one time, seeing a brand-new Harvestore towering over a farm meant you were looking at some seriously impressive agricultural technology. Today, an abandoned one can almost feel like a monument to another generation of farming.
The old blue Harvestore has become more than just a silo.
It’s a landmark.
It’s a piece of agricultural history.
And whether you call them Harvestores, blue silos, Blue Tombstones, or blue monuments, there’s no denying that these massive structures left their mark on the countryside.
And after standing for 40, 50, or even 70+ years, taking one of these giants down is an entirely different adventure.
If you’ve spent any time driving through rural Ontario, the Midwest, or old farming country, chances are you’ve seen one of these towering blue structures standing beside an old barn. They’re almost impossible to miss. Tall, perfectly round, covered in shiny blue panels, and sometimes standing long after the barns and farms around them have disappeared.
These are the legendary Harvestore silos—better known by some farmers as the “Blue Tombstones.”
And they have an incredible history.
Harvestore systems were introduced as a new way of storing livestock feed. Unlike the traditional concrete or stave silo, Harvestores were built from bolted glass-fused-to-steel panels and designed as oxygen-limiting structures. The idea was to reduce the amount of oxygen contacting the stored feed, helping control fermentation and reduce spoilage. (Publications.gc.ca)
The technology actually had roots in industrial storage tanks. A.O. Smith had experience producing bolted steel tanks, including tanks for the brewing industry, and that technology eventually helped inspire what became the Harvestore agricultural system. (Foxland Incorporated)
For farmers at the time, these things looked like the future.
Feed went into the top while an unloading system removed material from the bottom. Farmers could automate a job that traditionally required considerably more manual labour, and that beautiful blue tower quickly became one of the most recognizable structures on the farm.
By the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s, Harvestores were appearing across farming communities. In southern Ontario alone, research from the University of Waterloo found that 500 farmers purchased one or more Harvestore systems between 1963 and 1986. (Library and Archives Canada)
But there was one major problem:
They were EXPENSIVE.
Buying the silo was one thing. Maintaining the unloading equipment and keeping the entire system operating properly was another. As farming changed and cheaper methods of storing huge quantities of feed became popular, many of these enormous blue towers eventually stopped being used.
That’s where the infamous nickname comes in.
Some farmers began calling them “Blue Tombstones.” The nickname became associated with the financial struggles surrounding some farms that had invested heavily in the systems, particularly around the brutal farm economy of the 1980s. Farmers still tell stories today about seeing expensive Harvestores standing empty on properties where farming operations had disappeared. (Red Power Magazine)
Decades later, many are STILL standing.
That alone tells you something about how incredibly substantial these structures were. You can drive past an abandoned farm where the barn is collapsing, trees have taken over the property, and almost everything else is disappearing—and somehow that giant blue Harvestore is still reaching toward the sky.
Some have been repurposed. Some are still used for agricultural storage. Others have been dismantled, scrapped, or left exactly where they were.
But every one of them represents a fascinating period in agricultural history.
At one time, seeing a brand-new Harvestore towering over a farm meant you were looking at some seriously impressive agricultural technology. Today, an abandoned one can almost feel like a monument to another generation of farming.
The old blue Harvestore has become more than just a silo.
It’s a landmark.
It’s a piece of agricultural history.
And whether you call them Harvestores, blue silos, Blue Tombstones, or blue monuments, there’s no denying that these massive structures left their mark on the countryside.
And after standing for 40, 50, or even 70+ years, taking one of these giants down is an entirely different adventure.
