A method and system collects and manipulates information from various
sources for the purpose of determining the location of loads of material
in a bulk material storage container and tracing the number and identity
of bulk material sources, such as farms or processing plants, for loads
located within a bulk material storage container. Such production source
information is thus uniquely associated with a particular non-liquid bulk
material load. Surface mapping of a surface of bulk material stored in a
storage container is performed before and after material is added to the
container, and are used to determine position of loads within the storage
container. Embodiments of the present invention, using knowledge of the
position of loads within the container, may be used for the purposes of
preplanning and enhancing blended load-out batches.