After the snowstorm in September that managed to flatten much of the region's crops before the harvest, it was clear that harvesting those crops was not going to be an easy task.
After the snowstorm in September that managed to flatten much of the region's crops before the harvest, it was clear that harvesting those crops was not going to be an easy task.
Since being harvested, some of it has either been processed or will be processed at the Mountain View Seed Cleaning Plant located just east of Carstairs.
Manager Duane Trottier said the quality of the crop is down when compared to other years, and he added he hopes farmers have leftover grain from previous years to use for reseeding.
"It's certainly one of the poorer years we've seen for grain for quite a while," said Trottier.
"We're finding that the germinations and the vigours (well-balanced growth) are way lower overall because of the snow. And we're finding the grain is much dirtier because so many guys – with the snow putting the crops down – had to kind of dig into the ground to get the grain so we're finding a lot more dirt and rocks in the grain this year."
He has recommended that producers whose grain is showing poor germinations should be seeding between 10 and 20 per cent heavier next year, and those who still have leftover seed from last year should probably use that first, he added.
"A lot of it is usable but it will have to be seeded at a higher rate to compensate for the poor germs," he said.
As for those who are counting on purchasing seed for next season, he noted that even seed growers aren't immune to these types of problems.
"(But) I know I've seen it before where we had two years in a row where we had frost in August and we did get by. There was enough leftover seed," he said.
The seed cleaning plant basically takes grain that hasn't been processed after harvest, and cleans it up by removing a wide range of impurities, he explained.
"I kind of compare it to going to the hardware store or grocery store. You buy a package of seeds for your garden, and you know when you open them up they're nice and clean, there's no impurities with it – only we do that on a larger basis basically."
Chaff, dirt, dust and even improperly-formed seeds are removed in the process, which involves three or four different machines, and the resulting seed is tested for both germination and vigour quality, he said.
As far as volume, the plant has processed about the same amount of seed as this time last year, with the new $300,000 colour sorter proving its worth.
"Our new colour sorter is taking most of (the dirt and other impurities) out of there. If we didn't have that we'd be hooped," he said.
The machine, which was purchased and installed in February this year, has been a valuable addition to the plant, with its ability to sort out impurities like dirt, rocks and ergot-infected grain – although the amount of ergot this year is lower than usual, he noted.
The plant generally processes about 3,000 bushels a day – or just over 109 cubic metres – averaging 400,000 bushels every harvest season.
There are approximately 68 seed-cleaning plants in the province that all belong to the same association but are managed individually, he added.
"If we didn't have that we'd be hooped."Duane Trottier
