PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. -Wood chips, peat moss, panels of Styrofoam insulation and plastic pop bottles.
Those are some of the materials the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute tried when looking for ways to lessen the odor from lagoons holding liquid hog manure. The idea was to reduce the area of the lagoon exposed to the air and curb the amount of odor that could be carried on the wind.
The institute eventually struck upon straw blown onto the surface as a way to limit the offending odors.
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“You wouldn’t believe the things we tried before we found out that barley straw worked,” said David Gullacher, PAMI’s president and chief executive officer.
The story was part of a trip down memory lane for PAMI, which celebrated its 25th anniversary with a banquet and displays Sept. 26 at its facility in this southern Manitoba city.
PAMI’s mandate is to do equipment testing, evaluation and design for the benefit of producers, commodity groups and Western Canadian manufacturers.
The institute tests machinery and equipment, publishes reports, researches new technology and conducts applied research projects at its machinery test stations in Portage and Humboldt, Sask.
Over the course of its history, PAMI has tested more than 750 agricultural machines and distributed five million evaluation reports to readers in North America and around the world.
A 25th anniversary celebration is planned for Nov. 17 at the institute’s test station in Humboldt, Sask.
During the recent celebration at Portage, Gullacher recounted the contribution PAMI has made to prairie agriculture.
“I think you’re just seeing the beginning of prairie innovation in terms of what will happen now,” he said.
Those innovations will be driven by Western Canada’s move toward farm diversification and value-added ventures, he said. With the demise of the Crow Benefit subsidy there’s a growing push to feed grains to livestock rather than ship them to port for export. That shift, said Gullacher, has been reflected in the work of PAMI.
“Technology used to be a rifle shot,” he said, describing the scope of PAMI’s work in its earlier years. “Now it’s a shotgun blast.”
Special crops, specialty livestock and intensive livestock operations all are adding to the need for innovation. PAMI is among the agencies that producers and manufacturers look to when pursuing that innovation.
“Every day I come to work, I’m not sure what’s going to be coming through the door,” said Doug May, PAMI’s vice-president of Manitoba operations. “It really makes it a neat place to work.”
