Robin Booker

Robin Booker

Mail Icon Twitter Icon Facebook Icon

Robin Booker is the Editor for The Western Producer. He has an honours degree in sociology from the University of Alberta, a journalism degree from the University of Regina, and a farming background that helps him relate to the issues farmers face.

Stories by Robin Booker

a zero-turn mower sits idle in the midst of mowing a lawn.
Opinion

AI no match for savvy farmers

Proponents of artificial intelligence systems, including ChatGPT that recently became available to the public, say it is just the beginning of a sea change that will profoundly affect our lives. They say few professions will remain unscathed by this new wave of technology — from farming to finance to law to medicine to coding to […] Read more
Flea beetles on volunteer canola plant leaves.
Crop Management

Consider moisture before spraying flea beetle

“Canola can take a lot of damage before you actually need to spray. The conditions that make me worried for flea beetles though, are the hot and dry conditions because that makes the flea beetle bites on the plants worse. When it’s hot and dry, the plant can’t compensate for having these holes in it and then the holes lead to increased drying,” said Tyler Wist, an Agriculture Canada research scientist who studies flea beetles.
An open laptop and a smartphone both display the bin inventory system built by Adaptive Agriculture.
Crop Management, Machinery, News

Online dashboard simplifies bin management

Tool allows connection to in-bin sensors and control devices for remote management via wi-fi or cellular networks

Saskatoon-based Adaptive Agriculture built a bin inventory system, available through its website, that connects to bin sensors and graphs their readings.

Microsoft’s Azure Data Manager for Agriculture is designed to connect farm data from disparate sources to help companies use their information to develop and improve their digital ag products. Bayer recently announced a new program called AgPowered Services that is licensed on Azure’s Data Manager for Agriculture. A customer of this new service is Bayer’s FieldView platform, which will use data from Azure Data Manager for Agriculture, including satellite and weather data, to help farmers watch out for potential yield-limiting factors in their fields.  |  Getty Images
Crop Management, Machinery

Refining artificial intelligence data

Service connects farm data from disparate sources to help companies use it to develop and improve digital ag products

Microsoft's Azure Data Manager connects farm data from disparate sources to help companies use the information to develop and improve their digital ag products.

Farmers will benefit significantly from powerful artificial intelligent systems recently released to the public. From marketing and finance to chemistry and biology to mechanics and computer programs, these new language models will soon help farmers quickly access information they need. | Getty Images
Crop Management, Machinery

Chatbot provides agronomic advice

A tool that accesses publicly available data to answer questions is one example of the new artificial intelligence revolution

The list of AI-based products in the agricultural industry is about to skyrocket with the wide-scale availability to developers and farmers of these new tools. 

CNH recently acquired a majority stake in U.K.-based Bennaman, which builds technology that captures methane from lagoons on dairy farms. The methane is then purified and converted into liquefied methane using a processing unit and stored in Bennamann’s non-venting cryogenic storage tanks. | Bennaman photo
Crop Management

Methane from dairy lagoons to power farms

CNH acquisition captures fuel for on-farm generators and the New Holland T7 Methane Powered tractor 

CNH added to its alternative power portfolio by taking a majority stake in Bennamann, a company based in the United Kingdom that captures and stores methane. Oscar Baroncelli, the head of global tractor and telehandler product management at CNH, said he’s a believer in the potential of methane tractors. “We would also like to support […] Read more

Latest video

More Videos