Drying grain with conventional artificial drying methods requires great quantities of petroleum fuels. Depletion of fossil fuel increases the need of the utilization of solar energy as an alternative to petroluem fuels for drying grain , an energy intensive agricultural operation. Many techniques for the utilization of solar energy in grain drying have been developed, however, there are many problems in adopting solar energy as an energy sources for drying grain. Futhermore, very little research has been done on solar grain drying in Korea. This study was conducted to evaluate the availability of solar energy for drying of rough rice in Chuncheon, Suweon, and Jinju areas based on 50year meteorological data, and to analyze experimentally the performance of a solar air collector for dying grain, and to find the effects of solar heated air compared to unheated air on the rate of drying and energy consumption required for drying of rough rice. The results of this study was may be summarized as follows ; 1. Monthly average daily total radiation on a horizontal surface in October was 260.6 ly/day for Chuncheon, 240.3 ly/day for Suweon , and 253.4 ly/day for Jinju area, respectively. 2. the ratio of monthly average daily diffuse radiation to daily total radiation on a horizontal surface was approximately 0.41 for Chuncheon, 0.45 for Suweon, and 0.44 for Jinju area, respectively. 3. Although the statistical distribution curves of daily total radiation for the three locations were not identical , the differences among them were not large and may be neglected for many practical purposes. 4. I was estimated that the optimum tilting angle of the collector in October was approximately 46 degrees for Chuncheon and Suweon and 45 degrees for Jinju. 5. The ratio of the total radiation on a optimum tilting plane to that on a horizontal plane was estimated to be 1.36 for Chuncheon, 1.31 for Suweon, and 1.27 for Jinju , respectively. 6. The collection efficiency of the solar air collector ranged from 47. 8 to 51. 5 percent at the air flow rates of 251. 1-372.96 $m^3$/hr. High efficiency remained nearly , constant during the best sunshine hours, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and decreased during other hours. More energy was collected as the air flow rate incresed. 7. The average temperature rise in the drying air from the solar collector for the test period varied from $6.5^circC$ to $21.8^circC$ above the ambient air temperature. 8. Solar-dried rough rice averaged 13.7 percent moisture (w.b.) after 130 hours of drying with the air flow rate of 1. 64 ccm/$m^3$<TEX>, and rough rice dried with natural air averaged 15.1 percent moisture (w.b.) after 325 hours of drying with the same air flow rate. 9. Energy saving of 2.4 kwh per <TEX>$m^3$<TEX> percentage point of moisture removed was obtained from solar heated air drYing. The solar bin used 53.3 percent less energy per percentage point of moisture removed than the natural air bin.