b"(L-R) Camrose County Seed Cleaning Plant employees Travis Hillaby, Plant Manager Murray Van Petten and Troy Hellekson.PHOTO: CAMROSE COUNTY SEED CLEANING PLANTThe location for the new plant along Highway 56 and south ofcapacity. It can clean 600 to 700 bushel per hour. While the old Highway 13 was strategic. It was on land already owned by theplant was also cleaning around 800,000 bushels per year, it only county and between three major grain terminals and crop inputhad a capacity of 400 bushels per hour making for much longer companies.work days to get all of the seed through the plant. The new plant It's more of an agricultural hub out here now. We can targethas two 100-foot scales that are capable of receiving and loading more of the farmers if they're selling grain right off the fields orsimultaneously, and can easily handle super Bs, with unload times throughout the year, Van Pettan says. of around 20 minutes. It also has a new USC High Capacity LPV Over the next few years the new plant was built. There were someTreating System which weighs the grain as it enters the treater and hiccups with construction during the pandemic. Costs rose afterweighs the seed protectant and/or inoculant as it is applied. steel prices increased due to inflation but the county was able toA major upgrade for the plant is the automation technology. The pre-purcase most of the steel and electrical components keepingscales are computerized and linked to the plants billing software. costs overall lower. Most of the new machines were prepurchased inThe plants operating system allows for all equipment to be started advance so there werent any delays with installation, but they didfrom the office and for the levels of each bin to be monitored have to wait for the springs for the overhead doors to arrive. remotely. There are also alarms to notify of hazards, all of the bins Even with the delays, construction was completed two yearshave automatic electric gates, and the camera system covers the full ahead of schedule. The doors to the new plant were officially openedplant floor. in January 2023. The seed plant teem of Van Petten, Travis HillabyThe new automation also allows for the plants administrative and Troy Hellekson started testing the new plant and its cleaningassistant, Jodie Bogstie, to work offsite and still be able to systems in December 2022. The doors on the old plant were closedmonitor and receive all information she needs to run the plants in Novement 2022 in order to allow the team time to adjust to theadministrative work. Bogstie splits her work time between the plant new plant before starting full cleaning services at it. and the Agricultural Service Board. Whereas she worked on site at It was the right time of year to make [the move]. It would havethe old plant, she now works off site. been ideal if we could have been doing that transition in JuneI have not heard a single complaint from anybody who is or July. But next to that, [its best] if you're doing that over thebringing seed in. The process is so quickit's twice the capacity Christmas break, Van Petten explains. Not a lot of guys like toand the speed has been phenomenal. I think it's been pretty clean grain through Christmas and New Year's[so] it madeseamless. We're very happy, Trautman says. the transition probably as smooth as possible. And then with theThe new plant is meant to handle expansion, Van Petten adds. increased capacity of this plant, we were able to catch up ratherHe explains theyre happy to be able to now give farmers in the quickly. area easier access to the plant and also have the room to expand The new plant has an estimated annual seed cleaning capacityoperations if needed.of 800,000 bushels per year with room for increased annual Ashley Robinson42seed.ab.ca"