United States agricultural retailers doubled their use of pooled data since 2017, according to the precision dealer survey recently published by Purdue University. “For instance, with nitrogen back in 2017 about 40 percent of dealers said that there was some influence or major influence on a nitrogen decision. In 2021, 86 percent of dealers said […] Read more
Agco: More green, and black, coming
Agco’s new head says smarter tools that automate operations in the field and barn are making farmers more efficient
As chair of the board, chief executive officer and president, Eric Hansotia knows a few things about agricultural consolidation. The new Agco head has worked in the machinery world for about 30 years, in that time spent a good deal of time in technology development and delivery. He says Agco’s approach to smart machines is […] Read more
Taking aim at VR and targeting the yields
Sometimes we become so immersed in our particular project or process that we don’t step back for a bird’s-eye view. Are we looking at trees or looking at forest? That’s the situation many variable rate farmers are in, said Dennis Bulani in his video presentation to the recent 2021 Ag In Motion event. As one […] Read more
Funding to boost Alta. rural internet service
Provincial government says the new initiative is part of its recovery plan to promote economic growth and job creation
The provincial government plans to spend up to $150 million to upgrade and expand access to broadband internet in rural Alberta, improving access to services for thousands of households. “I am so excited on behalf of all the people I represent because this does fight crime,” said Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of […] Read more
Food security institute hopes to unite innovation sector
Steve Webb sees the Global Institute for Food Security as a bridge between good ideas and marketable products. The chief executive officer of GIFS said Canada hasn’t done a good job of innovating in the ag tech space. “One of the challenges that we face before we can realize our vision of Canada as an […] Read more
Accelerator program to provide ag tech companies a helping hand
Saskatchewan’s bid to become a hub for agricultural technology continues with the recent launch of Agtech Accelerator. Economic Development Regina, Cultivator powered by Conexus, and venture capital fund Emmertech teamed up to announce the program at Canada’s Virtual Farm Show. “Tighten your lug nuts, Canada,” said Cultivator advisory board member Kyle Folk as he launched […] Read more
BASF, Bosch form spray tech partnership
Bosch and BASF received approval by merger control authorities to set up a new joint company called Bosch BASF Smart Farming, or BBSF. The new company will distribute technologies the founding companies have collaborated on for years, including the Smart Spraying solution that offers real-time, automated green-on-brown (pre-emergence) and green-on-green (post-emergence) weed identification and targeting. […] Read more
Digging deep for soil solutions
Soil probes have been available to prairie producers, agronomists and meteorologists for more than two decades. However those early units could not always provide the expected depth of actionable information. For one thing, probes did not have the agronomic software to make sense of what they were reading. But that’s changing. As data collection becomes […] Read more
MobiLab gives three-hour result in the field
Waiting three or four days for laboratory soil results can rain on your parade if you were hoping to get out in the field to apply some nutrients before the next rainfall. Quick-answer, in-field soil labs are one answer to this dilemma. There are dozens of these test kits available with varying levels of accuracy […] Read more
Hidden water drives demand for soil probe
When Ryan Hutchison installed his first Pessl weather station 24 years ago, he began to understand the potential benefits in knowing how much moisture was available to grow a crop. Hutchison, integrated solutions manager for South Country John Deere in Regina, and his team have installed about 1,000 probes since then. At first he sold […] Read more
