LANGHAM, Sask. — CropPro Consulting won an Equipment Manufacturers of Canada award for top new product in the agribusiness services category for its SWAT MAPS service. SWAT MAPS is the company name for its variable rate process. It stands for soil, water and topography maps and it details changes across fields and enables creation of […] Read more
Robin Booker
Stories by Robin Booker
When a field requires more than a harrow
The new Schulte Soilstar DHX0600 uses a disk and harrows to work up the top two inches and create a solid seed bed
REGINA — A post-harvest heavy harrow pass is standard practice for many prairie producers. It helps spread crop residue to prevent it from clogging seeders in the spring, and it can promote germination of weed seeds just in time to be terminated by freezing temperatures. There are years, though, when a fall pass with heavy […] Read more
Grain auger mover eases pain-in-the-back chore
LANGHAM, Sask. — A remote-controlled, electric drive system retrofit for straight grain augers promises to make moving them around the yard much easier. “It’s very handy and a lot better than trying to push them around by hand and getting into chiropractor bills,” said Doug Kramble of Kramble Industries at his vendor booth at the […] Read more
Scorpion hitch allowsmultiple uses for Pro-Till
REGINA — Degelman Industries displayed a 40-foot Pro-Till with a commodity cart hitched to the back with the company’s new Scorpion hitch during Canada’s Farm Progress Show. Paul Degelman said the company designed the Scorpion hitch because customers are looking for more ways to use their Pro-Till. The Pro-Till is outfitted with two air runs […] Read more
Quick turn test for disease popular
Rapid disease testing aids spraying and timing decisions, giving producers real-time control information
LANGHAM, Sask. — Lab technicians at Quantum Genetix are working around the clock testing crop tissue samples to help farms make informed decisions in their fungicide program. “It’s a busy time of the year for us. We up our staff and we run 24 hours to make sure our machines are working,” Heather Deobald of […] Read more
New ag school to focus on applied learning
The Saskatchewan Polytechnic program will eventually be run at the Ag in Motion farm site outside of Saskatoon
Saskatchewan Polytechnic is developing a new program that will focus on agriculture and food production. Dean Jamie Hilts said the school is waiting for the final stamp of approval from the provincial advanced education ministry, and he hopes to deliver the program to 24 students beginning in the fall of 2019. The plan includes building […] Read more
Funding loss a blow to oat research
Public oat breeding has taken a major blow with PepsiCo pulling funding support from all oat breeding research in Canada. “In total it’s nearly $600,000 per year that they’ve eliminated, so now PepsiCo/Quaker is not helping to fund any oat breeding programs in Canada as far as we know,” said Shawna Mathieson, executive director of […] Read more
Older combines with enhanced data collection
A yield monitor retrofit by FarmTRX enables growers to fit their older combines with yield-mapping technology similar to late model combines. “I’m an old hardware guy so I designed a task-specific processor box that records the data. We use your smartphone for a real-time display and to configure what you’re doing, what crop you’re in […] Read more
Up Next: get more data from the combine
Growers are able to create data-rich yield maps by installing a grain analyzer in their combine. “We are measuring protein, moisture, oil, fibre, starch as you are harvesting,” Victoria Clancy of Next Instruments said at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina. Next Instruments from Australia recently released its CropScan 3000H in Canada, which is the […] Read more
Drones fly higher in three ag applications
Regina — Unmanned aerial vehicle applications in agriculture have been over-promised and under-delivered, says Kelsey Martin of Martin Remote Sensing. He said the perspectives of hardware and software manufacturers, academics and service providers that use drone technologies have been given too much weight in media coverage. “There has been a bias because what’s happened is […] Read more
