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Winter

2018

grainswest.com

11

BY LEE HART

“It is not only an important service, it

is a unique service,” said Bishop. “Having

this network of producer-run facilities is

unique in Canada and in North America.”

This collective group of co-operatives

is bound together by the ASP. “We are

an association of associations,” explained

Bishop, who is a member of the Carman-

gay Seed Cleaning Plant. As such, the role

of each co-operative is to manage individ-

ual seed cleaning plants.

“We provide support services to our

member associations,” said ASP general

manager Monica Klaas. These services in-

clude employee training on best practices

for safety and management as well as pro-

fessional development. Additional services

include the delivery and enhancement

of employee and group service benefits,

advocating for the collective membership

and assisting with market development.

Cleaning plants are handling ever-

increasing volumes of pedigreed seed

as farmers and grain buyers develop

new markets for various commodities,

including organic crops. Many plants also

sell crop inputs such as certified seed and

fertilizer.

While each seed cleaning plant is

managed as a not-for-profit co-operative,

plants do need to operate as a business,

said Klaas. “The objective may not be to

generate dividends for the shareholders,

but plants need to be planning and saving

toward ongoing maintenance and facility

improvements.”

Along with upgrades, several replace-

ment construction projects have taken

place. The Strathmore Seed Cleaning

Plant opened a new processing plant in

2015, the Enchant Seed Cleaning Plant

launched a new facility in 2016, and

Lougheed Co-op Seed Cleaning held the

official opening of its plant in mid-2017.

New facilities are also under construction

in Bashaw and Taber.

“We hope farmers agree with our

theme for 2018: The Future is Bright,” said

Bishop. “I’m optimistic about agriculture

in general, and as an association I believe

our plants have a great deal of opportu-

nity ahead to diversify and expand their

services.”

NEWPLANT AT LOUGHEED

An excellent example of howASP co-operatives use state-of-the-art technology

to increase capacity and diversify their business, the new LougheedCo-op

SeedCleaning Plant in east-central Alberta opened this past year.

The $6-million plant replaces the original facility built in 1954 at a cost of

$65,000, said plant manager Mick Patten, who has beenwith the co-operative

for 32 years.

With an emphasis on increased capacity and efficiency, the plant features

51 overhead bins with a total capacity of 54,000 bushels. Depending on the

end-use specifications, the newplant processes grain 40 per cent faster than its

predecessor at anywhere from350 to 900 bushels per hour.

It has been outfittedwith some of the latest equipment, including an easy-

change indent cylinder machine for sizing crops. ItsOliver 4800 gravity table

features amodular deck, making it much easier and faster to changemodules

for various crops.With two colour sorters, capacity has dramatically increased

in the sorting of pulse crops and the cleaning of ergot fromgrain, for example.

“With greater capacity and newcleaning technology, we hope to draw

customers froma larger trading area and be able to offer improved services for

people looking to prepare crops for nichemarkets,” said Patten.

The Lougheed Co-op Seed Cleaning plant was launched in 2017, while additional new and under-

construction facilities can be found in Strathmore, Enchant, Bashaw and Taber.