EDBERG, Alta. – The tiny metal shed on the edge of the village is not
as impressive as the wooden grain elevators that once stood here, but
for local farmers, the weigh scale beside the shed is almost as useful.
Farmers were tired of driving to the local dump down the road or the
concrete elevator almost 50 kilometres away to get an accurate truck
weight so members of the Edberg and District Agricultural Society built
a community weigh scale.
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“The ag society felt it was time to put something into the community
the whole community could use,” said Gordon Klevgaard of Edberg.
“It’s one way to get a real good scale,” said Klevgaard, who put in a
scale on his own farm the year before.
Edberg once had three grain elevators where farmers could get an
accurate weight on 4-H calves, a load of cows or truckloads of grain.
The weigh scale in the grain elevator was a service farmers took for
granted.
With fewer grain elevators dotting the Prairies and more farmers
driving larger trucks farther distances, the society members felt a
scale would be a good investment for the community.
Ted and Dennis Boden of Edberg have a gravel hauling business and saw
the benefits immediately.
“This really helps our business a lot,” said Dennis, adding it will
help prevent expensive overweight fines.
The father and son donated the land, gravel and gravel hauling to
kickstart the $60,000 project.
“We figured it was a good idea,” said Ted.
“I’m hoping it works out good.”
Dennis said a weigh scale might not be what every community needs but
most society members were willing to work together to build community
spirit
“The community is dying out and I’ll try and support them as much as I
can,” said Dennis.
Steven Snider, president of the ag society, said everyone freely
volunteered their time to build the scale.
“Sometimes these projects are needed to get people in the community to
come together.”
Initially the society put a $7,500 down payment on a nine-metre long
scale but lost the deposit when the scale company went bankrupt. They
ended up buying a 30 m scale through a receivership sale.
Snider said three or four local farmers were tossing around the idea of
buying individual scales for their farms, but by putting in a bit of
money and working together, the community got a better scale.
