Tractors and students at Combine College -- LethbridgeNewsNOW

By Dori Modney and Photo-journalist Brandyn Montgomery

Combine College

Bigger than a Zamboni and a lot more complicated

Jul 11, 2019 | 1:05 AM

LETHBRIDGE — It was a sight to behold at the Enmax Centre on Wednesday. An arena that normally houses a sheet of ice and only occasionally sees a piece of equipment bigger than a Zamboni, was transformed into a giant classroom for Combine College.

You can’t have Combine College without combines and you need a sizeable space for a classroom. Makes and models of various colours were positioned around the arena floor, with cabs sitting as high as the mezzanine and ample space for students to get a good look at all the working parts.

As for the dozens of students – they were not first-timers. These were seasoned farmers who simply want to hone their skills and up their knowledge on the massive pieces of equipment they own.

Autumn Barnes, an Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada helped put together the event on behalf of the Canola Council of Canada and Alberta Canola, represents canola growers in Alberta.

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“We partnered on this to help bring education to growers and to people who are about to start harvesting their crops in Southern Alberta and we also have a bit of a trade show going on so canola growers can stop and talk to people who are selling things like drop pans which basically help them understand how to optimize their harvest.”

Barnes noted that the whole day is about getting more out of every acre and making sure a farmer’s harvest goes as smoothly as possible.

“Our organization has administered a lot of research with the help of organizations like Alberta Canola, and a lot of research funding in this area, so this is really highlighting some of the research that the Canola Council of Canada has administered and Alberta Canola has funded.”

According to Barnes, Canola College is a unique event where they have four different equipment manufacturers and skilled and experienced technicians who can talk about things like settings in a combine.

Tractor and students at Combine College — LethbridgeNewsNOW

She says, “ If you’re not familiar with farming, driving a combine isn’t easy, it’s extremely complicated – these are very complicated pieces of machinery and depending on the crop you’re harvesting, the conditions, how much moisture is there, dryness of the crop – there are a whole bunch of things that go into it – more than I understand, she chuckled, as the lowly agronomist.”

But there were numerous specialist on site who have tons of experience with the pieces of machinery and they were able to talk to growers about the specific pieces of equipment that they may own.

Many of the students who took part, were farmers that have canola in the ground and harvest management is a priority for them. The college provided an opportunity for education, as Barnes noted they are very innovative and like to learn and do better, especially with something like harvest.

“You’ve done all this work all this season, you have a nice crop sitting there and you just need to combine it and here’s how you can make sure that you’re wasting less, that’s what this is all about, it’s about optimizing harvest.”

This wasn’t just a local event, as people from as far away and B.C. the Peace Country and even from Saskatchewan attended.

One of the combine specialists on site was Jerry Vanlent the technical support specialist with Western Tractor, the John Deere dealer in Lethbridge.

“Today’s Combine College involves four dealerships and we’re here to teach how to set the combines for combing canola. I believe this is the first time in Lethbridge that they’ve had it, although it has been run at other locations, so it looks like this was a success and we hope to do it every year.”

Combine College and students — LethbridgeNewsNOW

Vanlent explained that upstairs on the concourse, the specialists offered several clinics such as disease control, late crop savings and “how to set a combine to save their losses so they don’t put too much out the back and put more money in their pockets.”

“A combine, said Valent, “is the one piece of equipment that makes you money and has to perform and that’s what you do everything for, to get the seeds into the bin for your money.”

“The biggest stress here is that they get so many dollars per bushel and a combine that isn’t set right could lose five bushels per acre – at ten dollars a bushel an acre, they can be losing a lot of money and when you have 5000 acres or more, just the cost of the savings can pay for the equipment for one year.”

Vanlent says this is something he loves doing. “I’ve been doing it for a lot of years with John Deere Western Tractor – we do a lot of clinics and I love to give something back to the farmers, to make them money, basically.”