Canada Closely Guards Export Wheat Quality

Press, Volume C, Issue 29638, 7 October 1961, Page 17

Canada Closely Guards Export Wheat Quality

The reputation of Canadian wheat was guarded jealously, and constant checks were kept on quality, Mr C. J. Crosbie. machinery instructor of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch. said yesterday. Mr Crosbie has just returned from a trip to the United Kingdom. Europe and Canada to study bulk handling and storage of wheat, a branch of engineering in which he has specialised.

Canadian farmers stored the wheat on the farm and when they went to town to do the shopping they took a small truck load with them to the elevator —like a set of giant silos—at the rail head, he said. At the elevator the wheat was weighed and graded and tests were taken and the elevator operator blended it with other lines before shipping it in 50-ton freight cars by rail to the terminal elevator at the port where it would be exported.

“In Vancouver I saw a Norwegian ship which had been built in Japan loading Canadian wheat to be shipped to Germany,” Mr Crosbie said. “Two endless belt conveyors were each loading 16,000 bushels of wheat an hour through steel spouts into the 3000-ton holds. There were six of these holds on the ship and by using special spouts to spray the wheat to the sides there was no need for hand trimming. Even the hatch covers were hydraulically operated to cut down on time and labour. “At the terminal elevator one man could unload between seven and nine rail cars holding about 54 tons of bulk grain in an hour using a dumping unit which

lifted the rail car and tilted it backwards and - forwards to tip the grain out the door, ‘The Board of Grain Commissioners for Canada exercise very strict grading control of the national wheat crop, and samples are drawn and checked practically every time the grain is shifted from the country elevator until it is in the ship’s hold. “Even after the grain has been officially graded and stored in its own bin at the terminal elevator a . grader continuously samples the wheat when it is being discharged into the ship. “A minimum standard for each grade of Canadian wheat is set and, in fact, the buyer gets better than this standard when he buys a line of wheat. In this way Canada maintains the reputation of the grain it exports,” Mr Crosbie said.