Crop Technology Field Trip

On April 7-8 2010, one of the instrucors, Peter Walsh took the 2nd year Crop Technology students on a field trip. Peter took 9 students to go and visit the CDC North research center, the Rahr Malting plant in Alix, the Lacombe research center and 20 20 Seed Labs. It was an exciting two days and we had lots of fun.

Our first stop was the CDC North research center. Sheau-Fang Hwang toured us around. She is a well known research scientist in plant pathology. There is a large amount of work done at this site, especially with Cluroot in Canola. But there are several other research being done as well which include looking at plant genetics and putting together new varieties.
We also got to tour their greenhouses as shown in the picture. We were looking at cereal seedlings and how they responded to the pythium seedling disease. The diseased plants were not as healthy and large.

Our second stop that day was the Rahr Malting facility at Alix. This large facility produces malt for several breweries in Alberta including Big Rock in Calgary as well as the US, Mexico and Japan. Barley within 500 miles comes to this prcoessing facility. Shown in the first picture, there is a large amount of storage. Each of those bins holds about 50,000 bushels. We were able to go up to the top of the 200ft building on our tour.

When the barley is brought to the plant it is tested for quality and cleaned. In stainless steel tanks the barley is soaked. After that the barley is germinated in separate tanks. Once that is complete after 4 days the sprouted barley is dried to 4% moisture content. This is the final product that is shipped out to breweries. It was a very fascinating tour.

On the second day our first stop was at the Lacombe Agriculture Research Center. Here there is several different plots grown and analyzed. Several different crops are grown and many different factors are experiemnted. Factors include diseases, herbicides and herbicide carryover, crop varieties and several others. We seen their machinery used including seeders, combines and their quad sprayer.

In the second picture, Brenton (student) is sitting in the drivers seat of a new plot combine. They are fairly expensive for a smaller machine, but they are complex just as any full size combine.

With all of the new and upcoming information, the industry and farmers can adjust production according to new information. It is very useful and important to have reasearch facilities to help make agriculture a better industry.

The last stop of our trip was 20 20 Seed Labs in Nisku. This lab analyzes a vast amount of seed samples coming from all over the prairies. We seen how they do their germination testing. They select a small sample and put the seeds into small dishes (depending on the crop species) and put them into growth chambers and monitor the temperature. Once they have germinated they find the percentage that germinated and if there were any other issues. Sometimes there is poor shoots and roots that have come out. Chemicals can cause this type of damage. Another part of seed testing is done for purity. This detects foreign weed seeds or other crop seeds.

Testing for disease involves looking at the seeds visually and doing tests involving DNA. Visually, seeds are viewed under a microscope. One test they do is loose smut in barley. They remove the barley embryos and look for disease growth on the embryo. In DNA testing, they add substances to the seeds to get the DNA. A special machine as shown in the second picture is used. From there they can detect many things. In wheat they can detect fusarium and the Triffid in Flax. There is a large amount of flax being tested for GMO's because of the European market. It was interesting to see what happens to farmer's seed in the lab.

Overall it was a great trip and we learned many things that we as students can take with us in the future. A special thanks to our instructor Peter Walsh for organizing and taking us on the trip.

April Stanko

2nd year Crop Technology Student

Sprayer Nozzle Testing in Class

Earlier this year in March, the Pesticide Management class had an assignment to test different nozzles. This included calibrating flow rates and looking at distribution and drift. The small sprayer we used had a roller pump and 8 nozzles. We used water colored with blue dye.

The first task we did was calibrating the nozzles. As shown in the picture, we gathered spray from each nozzle for 30 seconds and compared them. It was acceptable for them to be within 5% of the average.A couple nozzle orifices were damaged and were changed. Under a microscrope you could see why the spray coming from the nozzle was not even.

We learned that flow rates can help you discover when you have a damaged nozzle or a plugged nozzle. It will effect the distribution of the spray. It is also important to look at the spray coming from each nozzle as the spray should always be even. This way you can detect bad nozzles as well.


Next we tested a series of different nozzles. They all had the same flow rate. We used the 8002 as a standard. We also tested the Wilgar Drift Guard 8002, Turbo Tee Jet 11002, Twin Jet 11002 and an Air Induction 11002. It was interesting to see the various types of nozzles and how they work. As you see in the picture, we measured the distribution between 3 nozzles. When the variation was less than 15% it was acceptable. In the picture, that nozzle was below 15% variation and was acceptable. The nozzles with larger drops were less prone to drift.

By doing hands-on work in class, we get to see for ourselves how things work. It was fun to test different nozzles and compare results. That is one of the biggest beneifts of this program. In other classes we do labs as well. In Seeding Systems class we calibrate and test the seed distribution on a seed drill. In Plant Botany class we do germination tests. In Soils class we do texture and soil density tests. In Combine class we do labs to set the combine for various crops. So as you can see, this program focuses on the hand-on experience. It is a great way to learn!


April Stanko
2nd year Crop Technology student