Agricultural Equipment Technician

Tractors, combines, seeders and sprayers now carry as much electronics as a car showroom, and someone has to keep them running at seeding and harvest. Suncrest College’s Agricultural Equipment Technician programme is a one-year Saskatchewan Polytechnic certificate delivered at the Trades & Technology Centre on Suncrest’s Yorkton campus, with a class of just 12 students.

You start with SHOP 124 Hand Tools and Shop Safety, SHOP 125 Machine Safety and Operation and MATH 169 Trade Mathematics, then work through power systems in ENGN 191 Engines Basics, ENGN 192 Engines Fuel Systems, ENGN 128 Engine Overhaul and Assessment and ENGN 129 Engine Overhaul and Assembly. ELECT 122 Electrical Basics, ELCT-123 Electrical Systems and Operations, AIR 183 Air Conditioning and Heating, HYDR 124 Introduction to Hydraulic Pumps and Valves and HYDR 125 Introduction to Hydraulic Flow Controls cover cab and hydraulic systems, while TRNM 190, TRNM 191 and TRNM 192 deal with drivelines, clutches and final drives. Machine-specific courses include EQPT 194 Seeding and Tillage Equipment, EQPT 196 Harvesting Equipment, EQPT 197 Hay and Forage Equipment, EQPT 198 Sprayers and Applicators, EQPT 199 Pre-Delivery and Performance and FMMT 100 Precision Farming Operations, with WLDR 158 and WLDR 159 adding cutting and arc welding.

Most class time is spent in the Yorkton trades shop, where industry supplies new equipment and local dealerships lend used machines for teardown and repair. The programme meets technical training levels 1 and 2 of the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission (SATCC) if you finish with a 70 percent average and no more than 10 percent absenteeism, and you then have about 2.5 years to register as an apprentice. WORK 191 Dealership Work Experience places you in an agricultural dealership for two weeks.

Graduates work as agricultural equipment technician apprentices, service technicians, pre-delivery technicians and parts or service advisors at dealerships, large grain farms, custom combining outfits and short-line equipment makers. It suits mechanically minded people who like troubleshooting outdoors and in the shop.