40 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2018 THOSE WORDS ARE applicable to many things; relationships with friends & family, the food we consume, communica- tions at work or how about seed? Right… seed, that is where the topic comes up most frequently for me (note to self: check work-life balance). Seed quality and processing capacity are two of the most fundamental param- eters to measure any seed conditioning facilities or equipment.  Sometimes the two functions are harder to quantify than they seem, where it is not only hard to deter- mine true flows, but equally hard to deter- mine vigor of seed visually.  What makes things even more complex is that there is, almost without exception, an inverse relationship between quality and quantity while processing seed. Consider the pre-cleaner and fine cleaner.  Yes, capacities can be pushed to extreme levels, but as they are, particles being sized begin to override the holes providing the screening function.  The seed is never presented to a screen hole to determine if it should pass as accept or reject.  The good operator knows this is why he has good seed losses in the cleaner scalpings, or still fines in the good seed sample.  Why do manufacturers state different capacities for the same machine? Why does the same model have different stated capacities for fine cleaning, rough cleaning and pre-clean- ing? Because those terms reflect different quality levels of “clean.” An adept operator will tell you that pushing capacity will also negatively affect quality on your density separa- tion equipment.  On a gravity separator, capacity adjustments typically include feed rate and end raise.  Inevitably to create increased capacity you have to create more and faster flow across the Quality Versus Quantity While Processing Seed JON MORELAND PETKUS NORTH AMERICA MANAGING DIRECTOR moreland@petkus.de • petkus.de deck.  As the seed is exposed to the forces of the machine for less time, quality begins to diminish. Optical sorters too can be affected by pushing capacity too high.  As product flows increase through the optical array, if blemishes are covered up by other seed, the optics don’t detect them.  If optics do pick up blemishes in heavy flows, typically the ejectors will push additional residual losses of good seed into rejects. With any of these machines there is always a sweet spot or range to oper- ate.  My inverse theory only fails in very light capacities where the machines won’t operate at all.  Consistent flows where parti- cles react against one another to stabilize the mass will always create reliable qualities. “It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion.  I think he must prefer quality to quantity.” -George MacDonald WE booked the trip well before Hurricanes Irma and Maria took aim at the Caribbean. In the months following, I stayed in touch with the property owner of our rental house. Power restoration was progress- ing, but only 50 percent of the island had power and our rental house still didn’t. I confirmed that the house had a generator and figured that would be fine for a few days and stuck with the reservation. At 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, our gen- erator blew a gasket or seal and oil was pumped into the engine. Smoke billowed and the generator was done. We had just lost all power. On Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day, we experienced what many Crucians have lived with for nearly four months; no showers, no lights, no cellphone, no TV and using ice to keep food from spoil- ing. A day or two without power wasn’t going to ruin what was an amazing Christmas vacation. We had already spent a few days in St. Croix and learned from the Crucians that a positive attitude could carry us through. That night, we had one of the best Christmas Eves ever! Despite the slow recovery, the Crucians we met were excited to see tourists coming back and were optimistic they would get power soon. After more than 110 days with- out a hot shower or air conditioning, how could so many people be in such good spirits? In short, they were choosing to have a positive attitude. Homes were being repaired, grocery stores were stocked, roads were open…they had survived. Sure, they were without the modern conveni- ences we rely on, but Crucians had come together to help and support each other. Christmas in St. Croix and a Lesson in Attitude JIM SCHWEIGERT GRO ALLIANCE PRESIDENT @jim_schweigert • jim.schweigert@groalliance.com • GroAlliance.com This experience reinforced how impor- tant attitude is to the perception of an event or circumstance. In business and life, we will all suffer set-backs, disap- pointments and even devastating trag- edies. During those times, if you choose to have a positive attitude about what you still have, over time, you’ll recover and come back stronger than ever. You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude and response. A positive attitude can allow you to overcome everything, while a negative attitude can allow you to be overcome by anything. In the New Year, make the choice to have a positive attitude and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish!