Proponents say developing an industry that processes plant proteins would help diversify the province’s economy
TABER, Alta. — Binders, emulsifiers, texturizers, foaming agents, gels: these are some of the uses for fractionated plant proteins. David Fielder, senior scientist and value-added fractionation program lead with Alberta Agriculture, said Alberta can be as competitive as other provinces in processing plant proteins for use in foods and other products. That would help diversify […] Read moreCrop Management — page 344
More sustainability scrutiny called new reality
Grain buyers and end users are increasingly asking producers for details about their production practices on the farm
BANFF, Alta. — Jason Lenz’s farm was one of the first in Alberta to discover wild oats resistant to Avadex. It was an eye-opening experience and the impetus to keep better records of all farm activities, he said during a sustainability discussion at the Prairie Cereals summit held in Banff Dec. 11-12. “There has been […] Read more
Soil and leaf analysis made laser fast
Clients will receive results within four hours from the time the the high intensity LaserAg device receives the sample
WOODSTOCK, Ont. — A high-intensity laser soil or leaf analysis device takes one minute to perform a task requiring many hours in a conventional lab. It yields immediate, highly accurate data for 16 main elements. LaserAg is the brainchild of LogiAg in Chateauguay, Que., a leading agronomy provider serving more than 5,500 farms in the […] Read more
Robotic soil sampler is slow but consistent
The autonomous SmartCore is not just another agricultural robot — it should also be considered an agronomic tool
Try pulling six-inch cores from 100,000 acres on 2.5-acre grids with just four machines. It happened this fall, thanks to the autonomous SmartCore robot that samples 110 acres per hour. The machine was developed by two Purdue University engineering students, Troy Fiechter and Drew Schumacher. Once out of college, they turned their engineering project into […] Read more
Manage field data points every 20 feet
It’s a daunting challenge managing all data on 100,000 fields totalling 30 million cropped acres 24/7/365, but it’s a task performed routinely at the Farmers Edge technology centre in Lethbridge. The office is a busy place with more than 40 staff crunching data daily on every acre under contract, said Farmers Edge founder Curtis MacKinnon. […] Read more
Food security more complex issue than we often acknowledge
Too often the term global food security is used to justify our existence as farmers. As an industry, we’ve named organizations, government departments and major marketing campaigns based around the term food security. What usually begins as frightening projections on global population growth urges us as farmers to produce more to feed a “growing global […] Read more
This is what I’ve learned from the last 12 months
This is the time of year when there is time to reflect back on the season that just wrapped up and try to take some lessons from what we did and what happened. Here are a few notes that I made. Wheat planted early, followed by three weeks of cold weather, will successfully germinate and […] Read more
Rising ozone called a threat to corn varieties
Current levels will decrease yields by as much as 10 percent, which is the same level of threat as drought and flood
While rising carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere are a concern, little attention has been paid to the problem of rising ozone levels. In a new study, researchers have discovered that some varieties of the corn family are more susceptible than others to yield losses when exposed to high levels of ozone air […] Read more
Marketing key in hemp sector
Advance research into markets and agronomy is vital for those who want to grow hemp. Jeff Kostiuk of Hemp Genetics International fields calls from producers interested in growing what could be a lucrative crop, but they have to know ahead of time how to plant it and later market it. “You have to realize what […] Read more
China approves two new GM crops from U.S. for import, renews 10 others
BEIJING, (Reuters) – China approved two new genetically modified (GM) crops for import earlier this week that could boost agricultural purchases from the United States, while renewing permits for 10 others, the Chinese agriculture ministry said. Earlier this month, Beijing and Washington announced a Phase 1 trade deal, under which China has agreed to import […] Read more
