SASKATOON – Farmers’ penchant for homemade remedies and clear prairie skies are natural partners under a northeastern Saskatchewan development board’s plan to offer blueprints for a solar-powered grain dryer.
Members of the District 26 Agricultural Development and Diversification Board around Tisdale, Sask. think solar collection units save on power costs, but are too costly for most farmers. So, they decided to do something about it.
“We figured that if farmers had a blueprint to build their own solar collector from common materials and save on construction and design costs, they probably would do it themselves,” said Leroy Bader, district agrologist from Tisdale, Sask.
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On most Canadian farms, heat is required in almost every step. Buildings must be warmed, grain needs to be dried and livestock must be sheltered.
Grain drying the focus
The Canada-Saskatchewan Agriculture Green Plan is funding the project which will focus on grain drying. The same unit can be adapted for other uses around the farm, says the group.
The project aims to heat incoming air by 10 C for grain drying. Tests are scheduled to begin this week on the Garfield Lutz farm at Mistatim, about 50 kilometres east of Tisdale.
The design incorporates a copper tubing grid for water heating as well as air. The group hopes to complete blueprints that will be available to farmers later this fall.
