Combines GMO s and harvesting

here in Canada we always will open the shields on the combine and drain the bin and clean out the stone trap.. Then run some seed crop through the combine and then dump it into a separate wagon or truck and then do the same thing over again and this time vacum out the grain tank and havent had any problems to date with cross of seeds etc...

Rod It all depends on the allowable tollerance. GMO's produce dust and will show positive in a test. I consider that impossible to alleviate. I'd be careful of signing any guarentee. Keep in mind that if an elevator runs GMO corn and then later runs Non GMO soybeans some dust will undoubtly cross contaminate.

Unless things have changed drasticlly over there last four years or so, most Canadian or American harvesters would have a heart attack if they had to go through what we do here in Australia changing from QlD to NSW. The crew I was in's only compressor was a hose hooked up to one of thier Peterbuilts for blowing out filters. And that was a crew with 6 CTS, 2 Peterbuilt semi's and 2 Freightliner tippers. As I remember, the biggest clean down we did was at a "carlovers" type place where we uped them with a pressure cleaners enough to make sure they "looked clean" on the outside. Internal cleaning involved opening the stonetraps, returns elevator and clean grain. Opening the sieves right up and give her a rattle out for a couple of minutes. If there was still anything on the top chaffer, then you'd go in with a screwdriver and clear them out. As far as I'm concerned, if a Qld_NSW crossing clean wasn't good enough for my non-gmo clients, then i'd be letting someone else have the gmo jobs! At least until the whole thing settles down a bit.

When I grew certified seed, I found that water would get rid of a lot of seed that an air gun or vacuum couldn't get. Blow and vacuum as much as you can, the grain tank is the worst to clean. Then block up one side of the combine and start washing just with a garden hose and nozzle. Then block up the other side and do the same thing. I would then dump the first 5- 10 bushels in a slough to make sure there was no contamination. good luck.

So you are virtually saying: you would loose jobs if you harvested GMO crops, then tried to go to existing clients who do not want any trace of GMO crop material on their farmIJ

If you do as you say in the "clean-out", would you assure your next client, who is adamant they do not want any GMO trace on their farm, that your machine is completely free of GMO seedsIJ Who is going to pay for the extra costs of cleaningIJ Who is going to pay for the "lost time" in cleaning down a machineIJ

Rod at the moment besides cotton there are only trial crops here that are GMO but Monsanto and co are really pushing farmers and the government to accept them.I can see for harvest contractors there are more problems and little good with mixed crops. john

You yourself should well know the stigma many harvesters that go north of the Warrego Highway face when in comes to parthenium. For that very reason, many farmers will not except custom harvester that have been in CQ weather it was in Clean country and extensivly cleaned machines or not. Can you imagine the stigma that will stick if your machines had been harvesting GM canola! I know myself I keep finding the odd canola seed appear in the chaff of my machine around the frame or axles, even though I extensivley clean my machine down with a large 175cfm compressors and water if needed. And that from a crop I harvested back in 2000! As a farmer myself, I really do have a lot of time for the potential GM crops offer. But until somebody does some serious PR work and sorts out exactly what this stuff can and can't do. The I'll definatley be steering clear of any GM jobs.

Bundy and Johnny. You both have hit the nail right on the head. There is a huge push for the introduction of GMO's into Australia from not only a couple of major companies but also from some industry bodies - mostly farmer based bodies. I'm not saying that GMO's are necessarily a bad thing, but we have very little information from both sides of the arguement. Why are we hearing first hand accounts from "Joe and Mary farmer" in the US and Canada that GM's are not all they are cracked up to be. And that is farmers who do not have a big "media profile". Why are the European community deciding to lower the admixture level from 1% to 0.5%IJ How as contract harvesters, haulage contracters, farmers and bulk handlers can we possible assure any one of complete segregationIJ The Australian Grain Harvesters Association will be putting a sudmission into the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator stating our concerns with the introduction of GMO's into Australia. All groups and individuals are invited to have their say in this issue.