WESTLOCK – Harvest is in full swing with combines going steady and Australian chopper pilot George Graham has touched down in Alberta to do crop dusting.
Graham, is a helicopter pilot in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, where he sprays crops nine months of the year. But since it’s winter down under he says he thought he would come to Canada for the summer.
On Sept. 6 he was dusting crops in Westlock County and said on a good day he can spray 2,000 acres. He has to refuel after approximately 30 acres.
“This quarter section here, in theory, will take me 45 minutes,” he said about the Canola field. “We spread [Round up] at about 70 to 80 miles an hour and go as low as we can.”
Graham said he had about 1,000 acres of a local farmer’s field to dust in Westlock County and then will head back to Morinville where his crew is currently staying. The company he works for is based out of Smeaton, Saskatchewan.
The farmers book the chopper service through Richardson Pioneer, he added.
“We have two or three choppers in Alberta at any one time split between Morinville, Sprucefield, and Lamont.”
As for why he chose to come to Canada, Graham admits it was partly for the adventure.
“I've been having a great time. We've gone around to lots of rural remote parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta.”