The Grain Elevator The grain elevator, the farmer's chief link to markets around the world, is the most enduring symbol of the Canadian prairies. The elevator is a vertical warehouse used for cleaning, weighing, and storing grain. It is also used to unload grain from its elevator bins into railway cars and trucks. These tall, often brightly painted wooden or concrete towers may be seen along railway sidings in many towns and villages across the Prairies and within easy reach of grain farms. Saskatchewan now has about 2,300 grain elevators. It once had over 6,000! In the early days of the grain trade in eastern Canada and the United States, grain was stored and transported in bags. When the Canadian prairies were opened for agriculture, this system was still in use: farmers delivered their grain in bags to warehouses located along the railroads. The same bags were shipped by rail and boat to final markets. At every step of the way, the bags had to be loaded and unloaded by hand. Transportation companies soon discovered bulk grain handling was more efficient. The railroads offered free sites and other privileges to companies or individuals who would build bulk handling facilities, called elevators. The first elevators on the prairies usually had capacities of 650 to 800 tonnes. Elevators were named for the way they work. An endless vertical conveyor-belt with buckets (called a leg) elevates the grain from an unloading area at the bottom to a distribution system at the top. From here, the grain is redirected, using gravity, to any one of several storage bins, or into a railway car. Early elevators were built 11 to 16 kilometres apart;a reasonable distance for horse-draw wagons to haul grain from nearby farms. The Modern Elevator The country elevator has changed since the early days of the Canadian West, but the changes tended to be in size, speed and efficiency, rather than in function or importance to the community. Elevators still exist for one purpose; to collect prairie grain for shipment to Canadian and international markets. They often become the economic heart of a small prairie community. About 70 per cent of the grain grown in Saskatchewan is spring wheat. After the wheat is harvested, it is brought to a grain elevator to be sold. The manager of the elevator weighs and grades the wheat and then stores it. The farmer may not sell all his wheat to the company that owns the elevator. Some may be kept for seed for the next year or for feeding livestock. In the past decade, the prairie grain-handling system has been affected by changing economic times and technology. Older elevators have worn out. Meanwhile, better roads and highways, and larger trucks have made it unnecessary for new elevators to be so close together. Many of the original prairie rail lines have been abandoned. A growing number of high-throughput elevators now dot the prairies. These elevators can receive large quantities of grain from farmers, and ship it out again by rail very quickly. The newest of these high-throughput elevators can store up to 37 000 tonnes. They are more than 37 times the size of the elevators which first appeared on the prairies, and are equipped to handle grain many times faster than the originals. Many elevators can now weigh and unload even the largest semi-trailer trucks; up to 31 metres long and weighing as much as l00 tonnes when loaded. Major Working Elements of a Country Elevator Driveway and receiving area Elevating leg Telescoping head Distributor Overhead shipping scale Boxcar surge bin Hopper car surge bin Boxcar loading spout Hopper car loading spout Storage bin Boot tank Cleaner bin Grain cleaner Dust control unit High-Throughput Elevators Office Driveway and receiving area Boot tank Elevating leg Leg head Distributor Overhead shipping scale Dust control unit Storage bin Hopper car surge bin Hopper car loading spout Shipping room Loading platform Hopper car In each high-throughput elevator, two high-capacity elevating legs can receive as much as 340 tonnes per hour each. In addition, grain can be loaded to rail cars up to 1 120 tonnes per hour; without interrupting the receiving, cleaning or burying operations. Today, most elevators are highly automated. Operators direct grain movement within the structures from control panels linked to a central computer. This results in fast and efficient accounting for the operation. Many of the new high-throughput elevators offer the additional service of condominium or producer owned leased storage. These storage facilities are jointly built by the Pool and local producers. Local producers can invest in storage space connected directly to the elevator. Space is usually sold in 4,000 units. Under the terms of the purchase, producers can deliver grain against their space and the Pool is responsible for managing the facility and maintaining the condition of the grain until the producer notifies the Pool of his intention to sell the grain. This new service provides many benefits to the producer, including flexible grain storage, increased delivery opportunities; particularly at harvest time, reduced storage risk, increased marketing flexibility, convenience and the potential for return on investment through appreciation in value of the unit over time. A Load Comes to the Elevator When the farmer pulls the truck into the drive shed of the elevator, the elevator operators weigh the truck. As the grain is dumped, the operators take samples of grain and test them to determine the quality, and how much of the load is weed seeds or other materials. New innovations, like Mobiload, allow the farmer to test grain right on his own land. Buying can occur direct from the farm. After the operators know what grade of grain the farmer is delivering, they can direct it to one of the bins. Samples are tested to check its quality, appearance, and protein content. The wheat is then dumped into a delivery pit. A series of buckets on a conveyor belt lift or 'elevate' the grain from the pit to the top of the elevator. From there, it goes through a spout to one of the storage bins. The bins keep separate the different grades of wheat. Once the truck is emptied, the operators weigh it again to determine the weight of the farmer's load. When the wheat is ready to be shipped out, it is sent into a loading bin called a hopper. From the hopper, the grain goes through a grain cleaner and into the cleaner bin. From there, it is sent to the top of the elevator through a special spout. The spout leads to a boxcar or hopper car beside the elevator. The wheat is shipped out by train to many different ports; the Pacific ports of Vancouver or Prince Rupert, the Hudson Bay port of Churchill, or to the Great Lakes port of Thunder Bay. At the destination port the grain is unloaded and cleaned, then dried and stored in huge terminal elevators. Terminal elevators store the grain until it can be loaded into ships and sent to market in other parts of Canada, the United States or to distant ports.