Colour sorting capacity increases

The Canadian Farm Business Management Council on its website www.farmcentre.com has an interesting story on how the Association of Alberta Co-op Seed Cleaning Plants is adopting colour sorting technology. According to the story by Donna Fleury, five Alberta co-op plants are now running a colour sorter on their cleaning line and another three will soon go the same route. In some cases, such as at the Bashaw Cleaning Co-op Association, the colour sorter is credited with saving the plant by increasing business. With hybrid canola and Plant Breeders Rights, there has been a decline in the need for farmers to clean their own seed. The plants are now using colour sorting technology to upgrade all sorts of samples. Here in Saskatchewan, more and more specialty crop processing facilities are adding colour sorters. They’re being used for a wide range of applications such as taking ergot out of wheat, removing canola from mustard, and taking diseased and/or bleached kernels out of all sorts of crops. Good colour sorters are expensive, but the digital imaging continues to improve. With all the grading issues in this year’s crop and with the big premium for higher grade samples, there should be no lack of work for colour sorters. I’m Kevin Hursh.