Mobile Seed Cleaning Trailer

In 2018, we bought a trailer and outfitted it with seed cleaning equipment to help farmers save and clean their seeds; readying them for sale. With growing interest from farmers across the province, in 2021, we added three additional mobile trailers: two for the Metro Vancouver area, one for Vancouver Island and one in the Kelowna/Shuswap area. We are continuing to expand and improve our equipment as we find out farmers’ needs in the areas we serve. Since then, we have cleaned over 140,000 pounds and hundreds of seed varieties as part of our mission to support BC farmers and increase the availability of provincially and ecologically grown seed. Our mobile seed cleaning trailers have been on tour from the northern parts of the province to the Gulf Islands, responding to demand for on-farm seed cleaning capabilities.

Often a lack of equipment stops growers from scaling up their seed cleaning. Seed cleaning by hand can be tedious but our trailer can increase the efficiency of this process while reducing labour costs, and improve the quality of the finished product. Having seed cleaned to a higher quality can help farmers increase the germination rate of their seed lots as compared to sorting by hand.

Another important part of our trailer tours is having opportunities to create community. We feel really lucky to get the chance to meet so many folks interested in food and seed growing in all areas of the province. There are great conversations and tips and tricks shared by growers with each other at each stop on our tours. 

By helping farmers scale-up and incorporate seed production and strengthening community connections we are on our way to greater food system resilience for all.

Booking Request for Mobile Seed Cleaner Vancouver Island Region
Booking Request for Mobile Seed Cleaner Metro Vancouver Region
Booking Request for Mobile Seed Cleaner Thompson Cariboo Region
Booking Request for Mobile Seed Cleaner Northern Region

Mobile Seed Cleaner Trailer Equipment

The Clipper AGM 224 is a medium-capacity seed cleaner that can clean a wide array of seeds. It cannot be removed from the trailer. The Clipper can be used for the initial and final cleaning of many seed types. You can find an overview tutorial video here.

The Clipper comes with a selection of 26 screens which can also be used on their own without the Clipper. A video tutorial can be found here on how to change the screens.

 

 

 

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The Winnow Wizard is a game-changer for small-scale seed production.  In addition to replacing manual fan winnowing, the Winnow Wizard can perform precise density separations to remove hollow/immature seeds, difficult chaff/weed seeds, and heavier dirt/rocks.  It has saved thousands of labour hours and many thousands of dollars – both through time savings and through bringing unsaleable lots up to acceptable germination rates.

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This is the smallest version of a long-proven seed cleaning machine. This can do test batches for larger-scale operations, or small amounts of lettuces or other small seeds that need final cleaning. This can be used on a tabletop and can be used independently from the rest of the trailer.

 

 

 

A great small size thresher that can quickly thresh all sorts of crops from lettuces to brassicas, and legumes. This thresher comes with 2 screens, one works well for grains and smaller seeds, while the other works well for larger seeds such as sunflowers and beans.

Put the pedal to the metal and thresh your crops using our bike powered thresher. This thresher uses your biking force to turn an axil with chains that spin to help break apart your crop. The bike thresher comes with three screens: A large screen, a small screen and a sheet of metal. The larger screen works great for larger seeds such as peas, and the smaller screen size for smaller seeds including brassicas. The sheet of metal is useful for seeds that are too big for the larger screen or for crops that are more challenging to thresh.

Our drill powered thresher comes in two sizes, a larger garbage bin and a smaller bucket. This thresher uses a drill to rotate a paint mixer with attached chains that spin to thresh your crop. This drill powered thresher is great for seed crops of all sizes.

The air column separator is great for the final cleaning of many seeds or for differentiating seed by weight. This design used air pressure differential to sort seed and debris according to weight.

Similar to the air column separator, the zig-zag seed cleaner also differentiates seed and debris by weight.

Although simple technology, our large variety of 20+ hand screens have the capacity to sort a lot of varied seeds by size. They have been extremely useful for smaller batches of seeds for many of our growers.

 

 

 

Vacuum cleaner

The vacuum is used with the air separators and also for clean-up – a true multi-functioning tool!

Air compressor

The air compressor is an important tool for cleaning seeds and cleaning the equipment in between seed lots. The unit has two compressors that can be used outside the unit. These units are quite heavy so be careful when using them. Ear, eye, and lung protection are recommended when using the compressor to clean seeds or equipment.

Foot threshing box

A handy bucket and wood board to easily stomp thresh small quantities of seeds.

Totes

Rubbermaid totes and a selection of buckets are useful for catching and storing seed while cleaning. These can be used separately from the trailer as well.

Tarps

Use tarps under your cleaning areas to catch any stray seeds and to keep your work area clean. A selection of colours helps with different types of seed.

Safety Supplies

Safety is important to us. The trailer comes with a selection of hearing, eye, and lung protection options to keep you safe and healthy while cleaning your seeds. We appreciate a donation for any safety equipment you use to help cover the costs.

Box fans

Seed Hub Feasibility Study done in 2021

Covid has shown us how fragile our seed supply chain is, and highlighted the importance of a resilient local seed network. All seed producers in our area have been struggling to increase our production in order to keep up with increased demand. Access to the mobile seed cleaner has made a huge difference in our ability to process seed efficiently and has increased the overall quality of the seed we sell.” – Theresa Heinekey, Saanich Organics

Folks examining seed from the seed cleaning trailer

FarmFolk CityFolk gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

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