Noel Busse

A British Columbia vineyard is taking a futuristic approach to the traditional family business. King Family Farms near Penticton recently installed a network of 60 wireless temperature sensors in its fields. Researchers at Agriculture Canada’s Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in nearby Summerland monitor the sensors with the help of the King family. The sensors were […] Read more

It is a new technology with amazing promise: the ability to diagnose animal diseases with Star Trek-like hand held devices; herbicides that kill weed seeds in soil without harming other organisms; food packaging that preserves meat or vegetables for months. These are a few of the possible applications of nanotechnology, a young science based on […] Read more

Nanotechnology works with microscopes and molecules but wrestles with colossal questions. The technology is invisible to the unaided eye. A nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre, and the structures that nanotechnology builds are usually less than 100 nm in size, one-thousandth the width of one strand of human hair. It is only in […] Read more

Nanosensors may create easy and cost effective methods to detect disease in cattle. These tiny sensors use the properties of nanoparticles to detect changes in the environment. Some nanoparticles, for example, conduct small amounts of electricity when exposed to certain chemicals and could possibly be tuned to do so on contact with fertilizers and pesticides. […] Read more

In the future, farmers may have a tiny, invisible ally in the fight against bovine respiratory disease. BRD, or shipping fever, is a pneumonia bacterial disease that rears up when an animal’s immune system is weak, usually during times of stress. It costs producers money in drug treatments, reduced feed efficiency and weight gain and […] Read more

The number of cattle killed by wolves is increasing in the forest fringe of Saskatchewan, and some cattle producer say the government isn’t doing enough to help. Reports of wolves attacking cattle are coming from Hudson Bay, Nipawin, Meadow Lake and the Goodsoil, Sask., areas. Some producers have reported losing up to 16 animals in […] Read more

Equipment manufacturers are dealing with strains on their production floors as higher grain prices lead to increased sales of farm machinery. Canadian tractor sales rose 71.8 percent to 2,374 units in January and February. Combine sales increased 11.6 percent in the same period. Last year, Canadian tractor sales rose 10.3 percent and combine sales rose […] Read more

Glyphosate producers say high demand and low supply worldwide are driving up the price of herbicides, but some farmers say they’ve heard it all before. The price of Roundup herbicides increased approximately seven percent across all product tiers in Canada Feb. 12. Last fall, mid and low tier Roundup products cost, on average, 12 percent […] Read more

With grain farmers expected to earn more money this year, implement dealers are gearing up for what could be the highest demand for farm equipment in years. “I know just talking to other people in the industry, they’re suggesting that it hasn’t been quite like this since the mid-’70s,” said Duane Smith, general manager of […] Read more