- 1-800-667-6924
- info@vistasort.com
- 835 - 58th Street East, Saskatoon, SK
Air screen cleaners, gravity separators, color sorters, destoners, and more — the complete range of seed cleaning equipment Canada's processors rely on. Supplied by Vistasort since 1986.
The tagline "from the combine to the bag" is not marketing — it describes the actual sequence every processing line follows. Understanding where each machine fits in that sequence, which crops each machine handles best, and how equipment interacts across the line is what separates a Vistasort recommendation from a product catalogue.
Vistasort has been the go-to source for seed cleaning equipment in Canada since 1986 — supplying and integrating complete processing lines for agricultural operations across Western Canada. We represent Clipper, LMC, Carter Day, KSi, Fischbein, nVenia, and Fuji Robotics — and we manufacture the VistaSort optical color sorter. Every recommendation is based on your crop, your grade targets, and your throughput requirements — not on what we have in stock.
When you call Vistasort, you speak with someone who has been on the floor of processing operations across this country and knows what actually works. The twelve equipment types below represent the complete range of what Vistasort supplies, configures, and supports.
Every processing line follows the same basic sequence — each stage handling what the previous one cannot. Here is how the equipment fits together.
Field-run product enters the line carrying dust, chaff, metal debris, and lightweight foreign material. An aspirator removes the bulk of light material using controlled airflow before product reaches primary cleaning equipment, reducing load and improving overall line efficiency. A magnetic separator removes ferrous metal fragments that could damage downstream machines.
The air screen cleaner is the workhorse of the line — removing foreign material by size using screens (top and bottom) and by weight using aspiration. This is the first major separation step and handles the majority of the cleaning work. A sizing shaker is used where multiple precise size fractions are required simultaneously.
Once primary cleaning is complete, secondary separation targets what screens and air cannot distinguish — density, length, and shape. A destoner removes stones and heavy contaminants. A gravity separator removes shrivelled and immature kernels by density. An indent separator removes short round weed seeds by length. Disc and spiral separators handle shape-based separations in specialty crop lines.
The VistaSort color sorter removes discoloured, damaged, or foreign-coloured material that has passed through every previous stage — defects visible only optically. Near-infrared detection handles contaminants invisible to the naked eye. For most export-grade and food-grade operations, optical sorting is the final quality checkpoint before treating or packaging.
In food-grade pulse and specialty crop lines, a bean polisher removes surface dust and improves visual presentation for retail and export buyers. An impact huller dehulls oats, sunflowers, buckwheat, or hemp seed before further processing. Both machines represent the final processing step before seed treating or packaging begins.
The first machines in any line — removing bulk foreign material, metal contamination, and out-of-size product before secondary separation begins.
An aspirator removes lightweight foreign material from grain and seed streams using controlled airflow — dust, chaff, hulls, broken seeds, and light immature kernels that carry through from harvest.
The machine draws air across a falling curtain of product, lifting off low-density material while heavier seed passes through to the clean discharge. In seed cleaning lines, aspirators are positioned early in the process to remove bulk light material before the product reaches air screen cleaners, reducing load on downstream equipment and improving overall line efficiency. Aspirators are used across wheat, canola, peas, lentils, flaxseed, and grass seed operations where dusty or chaffy conditions make pre-cleaning essential. On high-volume lines handling field-run product from the combine, an aspirator at intake can reduce light material substantially before primary cleaning begins. Vistasort configures aspirators by product density, throughput, and downstream line requirements.
A magnetic separator removes ferrous metal contaminants — bolts, wire fragments, equipment wear particles, and metallic field debris — from grain and seed streams before product reaches processing equipment downstream.
Ferrous metal contamination is a universal risk in field-harvested product and can cause catastrophic damage to high-speed processing equipment including impact hullers, gravity separators, and color sorters if not removed at intake. Magnetic separators are designed for inline installation on bucket elevators, conveyors, or spout lines, capturing ferrous particles with a permanent magnet or electromagnetic drum as product flows past. In food-grade processing and certified seed operations, magnetic separation is often required at multiple points in the line under food safety and seed certification protocols. Vistasort installs magnetic separators as a standard element of all complete processing line designs and recommends inline magnetic protection ahead of any high-speed mechanical equipment.
An air screen cleaner is the workhorse of any seed cleaning or grain processing line — the first major separation step after intake, removing foreign material by size and weight.
The machine uses two screens to scalp oversized material and remove undersized seed, while aspiration blowers simultaneously lift off dust, chaff, and light kernels. Vistasort supplies Clipper and Carter Day air screen cleaners scaled from on-farm operations to high-volume commercial processing facilities. Clipper machines are built for continuous-duty performance across wheat, barley, canola, lentils, peas, and grass seed. Carter Day heavy-duty models are engineered for commercial operations handling large volumes at high throughput. Correct screen selection is critical — Vistasort stocks a full range of wire mesh and perforated plate screens for virtually every crop and separation requirement, with sizing guidance provided based on your target crop and grade specifications.
A sizing shaker uses a set of vibrating screen decks to classify seed and grain by physical dimension — separating product into multiple size fractions for grading, packaging, or further processing.
Unlike an air screen cleaner, a sizing shaker provides more precise, controlled sizing across multiple decks simultaneously, making it suitable for operations requiring close-tolerance separation into two or more distinct fractions. Sizing shakers are used in pulse processing to size lentils and peas into export grade fractions, in seed production to separate small-seeded grasses by size class, and in malt barley operations where kernel plumpness is a primary grading criterion. In a complete processing line, sizing typically follows primary cleaning, gravity separation, and color sorting — handling the final dimensional classification before bagging or bulk loading. Vistasort selects screen configurations based on the target crop's dimensional characteristics and the grade specifications required by the buyer or export market.
Where screens and air reach their limits — separating what looks identical but differs in density, length, or shape.
A destoner removes stones, dirt clods, glass, metal, and other high-density foreign material from grain and seed streams — material that passes through air screens because it is present in small quantities but poses significant risk to downstream equipment and food-safety compliance.
The machine uses a combination of airflow and a vibrating inclined deck to float lighter seed upward while heavy contaminants travel downhill against the airflow and discharge at the heavy end. LMC destoners supplied by Vistasort are widely used in lentil, chickpea, pea, and soybean processing where stone contamination from field harvest is common and a single stone in a food-grade product can cause a buyer rejection. In malt barley and food-grade wheat lines, destoning before packaging is often required as a purchase condition. Vistasort sizes destoners based on throughput and contaminant density, with lab sample testing available to confirm separation performance before installation.
A gravity separator sorts seed and grain by density — removing lightweight, shrivelled, or immature kernels that are identical in size and colour to healthy seed but differ in mass.
The machine uses airflow, vibration, and a tilted reciprocating deck to stratify product into density layers, with heavy product discharging from the upper end and light product from the lower end. Density separation is the only reliable method for removing ergot bodies from cereal crops, immature seeds from pulse crops, and frost-damaged kernels from wheat and canola destined for Canadian Grain Commission export grading. Vistasort supplies LMC gravity separators, sized and configured based on throughput, target crop, and grade specification. In a complete processing line, the gravity table typically follows air screen cleaning and destoning, providing density-based refinement before optical color sorting. Lab sample testing is available before purchase.
A Carter Day indent separator — also called a length grader — classifies seed by length using a rotating drum lined with precisely sized pocket-shaped indentations. Short seeds lodge in the pockets and are lifted out of the main stream, while longer seeds roll along the drum surface and discharge separately.
This separation is impossible to achieve with screens or airflow alone. In Western Canadian pulse and cereal processing, indent separators are essential for removing wild oat from wheat, short round weed seeds from lentils, and broken seed fractions from otherwise-clean product streams. Vistasort configures Carter Day indent separators by pocket diameter, drum speed, and trough height based on the specific length differential between target crop and contaminant. In a complete processing line, the indent separator typically follows primary air screen cleaning and gravity separation, handling the precise separations that require dimensional precision beyond what screens can achieve.
A Codema disc machine separates seeds by shape and surface texture using a series of rotating discs, each carrying precisely sized pockets that capture seeds of a specific shape profile.
Seeds with the correct shape fall into the pockets and are carried to a separate discharge, while differently shaped seeds remain on the disc face and exit through the main stream. This principle is most effective for separating round seeds from flat seeds — buckwheat from wheat, round weed seeds from elongated crop seed, or clover from grass seed — where length-based or density-based separation alone is insufficient. Codema disc machines supplied by Vistasort are used in specialty seed cleaning operations handling grass, clover, alfalfa, and specialty oilseed crops where variety purity standards require precise shape-based separation. Disc size, rotation speed, and the number of decks are selected based on the specific crops being separated and the purity specification required.
A spiral separator uses gravity and the rolling characteristics of individual seeds to achieve shape-based separation without mechanical pockets or screens — the simplest and most reliable separation method for spherical seeds.
Product is fed onto a multi-turn spiral chute; round seeds gather speed and centrifugal force as they roll outward to a separate discharge, while flat, elongated, or irregular seeds travel down the inner track. This separation is particularly effective for removing round weed seeds from cereal crops, separating peas from vetch or wild pea, and cleaning ryegrass from fescue in grass seed operations. Spiral separators require no power beyond the feed conveyor, making them low-maintenance and low-operating-cost additions to existing seed cleaning lines. In commercial seed cleaning plants, spirals are often used in banks of multiple units to achieve high throughput on difficult shape separations.
Color sorting, polishing, and hulling — the last processing steps before seed treating or packaging begins.
The VistaSort optical color sorter is manufactured by Vistasort — the only machine in our lineup we build ourselves. Developed in 2011, it uses high-speed CCD and near-infrared cameras to identify and eject individual seeds based on colour, removing discoloured, damaged, or foreign material that passes through every other stage of the cleaning line.
With over 150 VistaSort units installed across Canada and the United States, the machine has proven itself across wheat, canola, lentils, chickpeas, field peas, soybeans, malt barley, sunflowers, grass seed, and food-grade specialty crops. Near-infrared detection enables sorting of defects invisible to the human eye — internal damage, surface contamination, and moisture variation in translucent seeds. Air ejectors respond in real time, removing off-colour material without disrupting the main stream. The VistaSort delivers commercial-grade sorting performance at a price point accessible to Canadian processors of all sizes.
A bean polisher removes the fine dusty surface film from dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, and other pulse crops — improving visual appearance, reducing dust during handling, and meeting the presentation standards required by domestic food buyers and export markets.
The machine uses a rotating brush or abrasive drum to gently scour the seed surface, removing the powdery deposit that accumulates during harvest and cleaning without damaging the seed coat. Polishing is standard practice in food-grade pulse processing where visual quality is a purchase decision factor — retail buyers, food processors, and export packers consistently specify polished product. Bean polishers supplied by Vistasort are used in lentil, chickpea, and pea processing facilities across Western Canada, typically positioned as the final processing step before packaging. Throughput, abrasion intensity, and screen configuration are adjusted based on crop type and the degree of surface treatment required.
An impact huller removes seed hulls, outer coats, or fibrous coverings from grain and oilseed crops using controlled mechanical impact — without crushing or damaging the inner kernel.
The machine accelerates product against an impact surface at a controlled velocity calibrated to crack and release the hull while leaving the interior seed intact. Impact hulling is used in oat processing to produce groats, in sunflower processing for dehulling before oil extraction or food processing, in buckwheat processing for groat production, and in hemp seed processing for hulled heart production. Impact hullers are sized and configured based on the target crop, hull thickness, and required throughput and dehulling efficiency. In complete processing lines, the impact huller typically follows pre-cleaning and destoning and precedes gravity and optical sorting to separate hulled from unhulled product.
Different crops require different equipment combinations. Here is how Vistasort configures processing lines for the major Western Canadian crop types.
Cereal cleaning lines focus on removing weed seeds, ergot, stones, and frost-damaged kernels. For malt barley, kernel plumpness sizing is a primary grading requirement.
Pulse cleaning lines require aggressive destoning (field stone contamination is high), precise sizing for export grade fractions, and food-grade finishing for retail markets.
Oilseed processing focuses on foreign material removal, density separation for oil content optimization, and hulling for sunflower destined for food-grade markets.
Specialty seed and grass seed processing requires the most precise separations — variety purity standards are strict and seed lots are often high-value certified seed.
When it comes to seed cleaning equipment in Canada, Vistasort has been the trusted name since 1986 — supplying and supporting grain processing operations across Western Canada. Steven Chivilo — President, Master's Certificate in Grain Operations Management from Kansas State University, active PMP, and recipient of the 2025 Alberta Seed Processors Outstanding Service Award — has spent 40 years learning what works in Canadian conditions.
Chris Hammel, Sales Manager and 40-year Vistasort veteran, is one of the most trusted voices in the Canadian seed cleaning industry. Together, they have supplied thousands of machines to operations ranging from individual farms to complete turnkey processing plants.
Parts are stocked in Saskatoon. Support is direct. When something needs attention, you are not calling a distributor in another country — you are calling the same people who helped you select and install the machine.
Whether you are replacing a single machine or building a complete processing line, Vistasort is the seed cleaning equipment supplier Canada's processors have relied on for 40 years. Lab sample testing available. No obligation.
Call +1-306-242-9292 | Toll-free +1-800-667-6924 | info@vistasort.com
