AI offers great promise for efficient food production but more work needs to be done before it can be left unsupervised
Imagine fields of wheat, corn or soybean extending to the horizon. Smart equipment — tractors and combines — till, plant, fertilize, monitor and harvest the fields. Using cutting-edge artificial intelligence, they do the work and save farmers countless hours of labour. The equipment responds to the weather and calculates the exact needs of each crop. […] Read more
Resistance to resistance – future control today
Herbicide-resistant weeds cost Canadian farmers more than half a billion dollars annually and the price tag is growing. The next generations of producers might not be any better able to control the problem than we are today. There are wild oat populations displaying resistance to Groups 1, 2, 8, 14, and 15 herbicides, kochia populations […] Read more
Effective farm data management becoming essential to success
New platform links farmers with a network of experts for support with agronomy, markets and mental health
One of the best ways farmers can prepare their business for whatever the future might bring is to ensure the information they base their decisions upon is reliable and timely. The variables growers must monitor to maximize their farm’s profitability are vast and complicated, and there are new sources of agricultural information popping up like […] Read more
Tipping the scales with technology
Scales, and the practice of weighing, have been around since the first humans placed stones on the plates of the earliest recorded overhead beam balancers. While the act of weighing objects persists, the validity of the physical variations of the scale must at some point be improved upon, said Sergio Monge, global sales manager for […] Read more
Building a legacy {without breaking the family}
Producers who can figure out how to use complex machinery or adopt new ways to grow crops don’t know how to talk to their own families about what will happen to the farm when they retire. Parents often put off succession planning because they fear the hidden conflicts it will bring to the surface, said […] Read more
Federal rural broadband funding welcomed in Alberta
Announcement brings internet expansion commitment to $400 million, but total cost could eventually total $1.2 billion
It could cost as much as $1.2 billion to provide high-speed broadband internet to all rural Albertans, with completion likely to take years, says a rural leader. Federal and provincial funding totalling $300 million will likely be combined with private investment and municipal funding to raise the current amount for the initiative to about $400 […] Read more
Emotion identification can improve welfare
An automated facial recognition coding system uses images and videos to determine specific emotions in livestock
Advances in precision agriculture have made it possible to track beef or dairy cow movements, feed and water consumption, body weight and basic behaviour patterns, which can help limit disease and increase production. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers, electronic scales and implanted chips send data to smartphones and computers when locations or routine behaviours […] Read more
Raven ready to roll on with OmniDrive
Farmers can not-drive the driver-less tractor at farm shows but they can see the advantages of doing it
Raven demoed their OmniDrive autonomous technology, installed on a Case Magnum, at this month’s Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. It gave farmers a chance to experience hands-off driving first-hand. Titan demonstrated the OmniDrive at the Big Iron Farm Show in Fargo, N.D. this week. As the company shows off the system to producers they […] Read more
Deere raises a green flag over robotics company
Deere acquired Bear Flag Robotics, expanding the farm equipment company’s labour reduction technology platform
Farming is a game of timing, precision activities and work, in its most fundamental form. Important stuff has to get done on time and machines can be really good at that stuff, especially when there aren’t enough skilled people around. That is an over-simplified version of what San Francisco’s Bear Flag Robotics has been developing. […] Read more
Data sharing caution urged
Farmers need to ask themselves what they’re giving up in return for the benefits of downloading an app or sharing information with a company or online platform, says a vice-president of an online grain marketing network. “We need to push people to make sure their data is being used responsibly, so who are you sharing […] Read more
