Canola, mustard, and canary seed are often the same size as the weed seeds contaminating them — screening alone can't tell them apart. Vistasort configures specialty crop cleaning equipment built around shape, density, and fine-tolerance separation for the crops that don't fit a standard cereal or pulse line.
Canola, mustard, flax, sunflower, and canary seed don't clean the way cereals or pulses do. Most are small enough that a standard screen sized for wheat or lentils would let the crop itself fall straight through with the waste. Weed seed contaminants are often the same size and weight as the crop, which means screening and even gravity separation alone can miss them — shape is frequently the only variable left to separate on.
That's where specialty crop cleaning equipment diverges from a standard line: fine wire mesh screening tuned to very small seed, a spiral separator for shape-based contaminant removal, and — for sunflower and a handful of other crops — a dehulling step that neither cereals nor pulses require.
Vistasort has configured specialty crop cleaning equipment for Canadian processors since 1986, anchored by the LMC Marc Gravity Separator and LMC Roca Destoner already running in over 100 installations across Western Canada.
A complete specialty crop cleaning lineup is built from these core machines. Not every crop needs every piece — see the crop table below for what applies where.
Removes light material and dust before primary screening, reducing load on the rest of the line.
Clipper primary separation — fine wire mesh screens sized to very small seed.
Carter Day length-based separation for foreign seed removal.
Density-based stone and heavy foreign material removal.
Removes off-types and damaged product by density.
Optical removal of discoloured, diseased, or off-type product.
Shape-based separation — round seed vs. irregular contaminants.
Gentle product movement between stages without seed damage.
Protects equipment and product from ferrous metal contamination.
Screening separates by size. Gravity separation separates by density. Neither can reliably separate a round canola seed from a round weed seed of the same size and weight — shape is the only variable left. The spiral separator solves exactly that: product is fed down a spiral track where round seed rolls faster and travels a different path than irregular or angular material, splitting the two into separate discharge points.
It's available in Open Spiral and Rotary Spiral configurations, with galvanized or stainless steel construction and up to 14 flight geometries — and it's the one machine on this page with no real equivalent in a cereal or pulse cleaning line.
Canola, mustard, sunflower, and canary seed share the same core equipment but need different configuration decisions. Contact Vistasort for exact screen and configuration specs — seed dimensions vary by variety and harvest year.
| Crop | Primary Separation Objective | Key Challenges | Equipment Path |
|---|---|---|---|
 Canola | Remove fine weed seeds; scalp pods and stems | Very small round seed; fine wire mesh required | Gravity Sep. Spiral Sep. Color Sorter |
 Mustard | Remove foreign material from small round seed | Similar in size to weed seeds; precise separation needed | Gravity Sep. Spiral Sep. Color Sorter |
 Sunflower | Scalp large debris; remove small foreign material | Elongated kernel shape; requires oblong or slot-style opening | Impact Huller Gravity Sep. Color Sorter |
 Canary Seed | Foreign material removal; small seed retention | Very small seed; fine weed seeds present in similar size range | Gravity Sep. Color Sorter |
✱ This table provides general directional guidance only. Screen opening sizes and grade tolerances vary by variety, harvest year, and Canadian Grain Commission specifications. Contact Vistasort for crop-specific equipment recommendations before ordering.
Not sure which configuration fits your crop? Send a sample and we'll show you exactly what a properly configured specialty crop line removes, no obligation.
Request a Free Lab Sample TestFive stages, not four — specialty crop lines add a shape-based separation step that most cereal and pulse lines skip entirely.
An aspirator removes light material and dust before primary screening, and a magnet separator pulls ferrous metal before it reaches the rest of the line.
Fine wire mesh screens sized to the crop scalp oversized material and remove undersized debris — critical when the crop itself is genuinely tiny.
A destoner removes heavy foreign material, and a gravity separator removes off-types and damaged product by density — the same density-based logic used across every crop type.
A spiral separator removes contaminants that are the same size and density as the crop but a different shape — the step that solves what screening and gravity can't.
The VistaSort color sorter is the last checkpoint, removing discoloured or off-type product that made it through every prior stage. For sunflower and select crops, an impact huller may run as an additional dehulling step before packaging.
These are the four contamination and grading problems that come up most often on specialty crop lines, and the equipment Vistasort configures to solve each one.
When the crop and the weed seed contaminating it are nearly the same size and weight, screening and gravity separation alone often aren't enough.
Round oilseeds roll differently than angular or irregular contaminants — a distinction only a spiral separator can act on.
Some specialty crops need the hull removed entirely before they're food-grade ready — a step cereals and pulses don't require.
Canola, mustard, and canary seed sold into export and food-grade markets are judged on visual purity as much as physical cleanliness — off-colour or foreign-coloured material can downgrade an otherwise clean lot.
Anyone can sell you a gravity separator. Configuring a specialty crop line that actually hits your grade takes knowing when screening alone will work, when shape becomes the only variable left, and when a crop needs dehulling on top of cleaning.
Vistasort is Western Canada's authorized dealer for LMC processing equipment — including the Marc Gravity Separator and Roca Destoner that anchor most specialty crop lines. Steven Chivilo holds a Master's Certificate in Grain Operations Management from Kansas State University and is PMP certified; Chris Hammel has spent 40 years configuring seed and grain cleaning lines across Western Canada.
Not sure which pieces your line needs? Request a free lab sample test — send us a sample of what you're cleaning and we'll show you what a properly configured line removes.
Send us a sample of the canola, mustard, sunflower, or canary seed you're cleaning — we'll show you what properly configured specialty crop cleaning equipment removes, with no obligation to buy.
Call +1-306-242-9292 | Toll-free +1-800-667-6924 | info@vistasort.com
