Barrhead Seed Cleaning Co-op opens its doors for Farm Days

Alberta Farm Days offers local residents the chance to learn about agriculture and farm life and this year the Seed Cleaning Co-op opened its doors to curious visitors. 

The Barrhead District Seed Cleaning Co-op was built in 1959 and has been cleaning seeds since 1960.

Justin Nanninga, seed co-op board member was giving tours along with Uwe Quedenbaum, chair of the Barrhead District Seed Cleaning Co-op.

“Trucks come in, are weighed and then dump their grain into the system,” said Nanninga.

Seed equipment through the co-op uses gravity and air to separate the grains by weight and density.

No chemicals are used in the seed cleaning process within the Barrhead District Seed Cleaning Co-op.

Five different machines separate the grain in each pass.

The colour-sorter is the most advanced machine in the co-op, according to Nanninga.

“Grain comes down through the machine, and it has a high-speed camera. You can separate out what you don’t want,” said Nanninga.

“It uses a shot of air that shoots that piece out of the stream," said Nanninga. 

“As an example, it can be used to remove immature seeds.”

Once the grain is cleaned, it is stored in the bins outside the building for the farmers to collect from there.

Nanninga joined the board in the past year and is a farmer from Neerlandia.

All of the seeds coming into the co-op are tested for fungus, and if the seed has too much fungus, the co-op won’t process that seed. This guideline protects other co-op users from contamination.

If fungus is detected, the seed cleaning co-op has the farmer agree in writing that they will treat their seed before planting, says Quedenbaum.

Fungus can be in the DNA of the seed and also on the outside of the grain.If too much of the fungus is on the grain, it creates a toxin that is toxic to animals, explained Quedenbaum.

Red fungus, fusarium graminearum, is toxic to humans.

At the elevator, if fungus shows up in a load, it will be difficult to sell, said Quedenbaum.

Fungus is becoming a common problem and has increased over the last 15 years.

If you feed grain with red fungus to pigs, they won’t grow, but cattle can tolerate it.

Humidity encourages the growth of red fungus and other fungus, and it doesn’t go away.

There were organizations at the Barrhead Seed Cleaning Co-op to talk to visitors about seed research and testing.

2020 Seed Labs Canada is the organization that does the testing for the Barrhead District Seed Cleaning Co-op.

They had a display to talk about seed quality and diseases.

Gateway Research Organization (GRO), based out of Westlock, is a non-profit research company led by farmers for farmers.

They take the risks out of testing products, crops, soil health and sustainability and help farmers learn about advancements that can help them on their farms.

“Visitors came and that shows interest. People came today from farther away with no farming background, which is good,” Quedenbaum said.