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2023 Harvest Sample Program

“Producers should be taking samples of each load as the crop is placed into storage to create a representative sample for each bin,” explains Neil Blue, provincial crops market analyst with the Alberta government. “The goal is to have a sample that has the same characteristics as the large volume of product that it represents. Producers will then have a sample that can be used to shop around with various potential buyers.”

One of the services of the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is the Harvest Sample Program, which is a voluntary program for grain producers to get an assessment of their grain’s quality. The CGC sends participating producers a personalized kit, including postage-paid envelopes for the samples. Producers fill the envelopes with representative crop samples and mail them to the CGC.

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Trending Video

How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.