In the wheat belt here in Canada, I often heard "thrashing."

IanC- The sugar beet industry here in Alberta is important. This may interest you.

After WW2, Germans came to Canada; some, at least, required to work in the agricultural field. One was a German trained in engineering. Assigned to work in the sugar beet fields, the work was hard and foreign to him, as he had never worked with his hands, and he had been an officer in the German army during the War.
He knew English, and made his credentials known to the beet administrators, and was
eventually taken out of the fields and became an advisor to the company. After he gained his Canadian citizenship, he was hired by an oil company and became a seismologist in their exploration and development section. He was a good friend of mine.

How many Germans came to Canada and were required to work in the agricultural field?