Crop Management
If you didn’t make it out to the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show this summer, don’t despair. Here, we examine eight precision applicators that made an appearance in AIM field demonstrations:
LANGHAM, Sask. — Field demonstrations are one of the main features at the Ag in Motion (AIM) outdoor farm show that attract more farmers every year. This year, growers saw eight of the latest precision nutrient spreading machines in action. The key word here is “precision.” Not long ago, you would never have heard the […] Read more
Crop Management
Retain your alfalfa by sparing it a later, second cut in August
This year’s abnormally cool and dry spring has resulted in feed shortages across much of Western Canada. This will result in many producers trying to get a second cut of alfalfa off. To ensure that your alfalfa goes into winter in the best condition, it is recommended that you observe a hiatus from cutting during […] Read more
Record grain throughput sets past grain year apart
Western Canada’s agricultural supply chain appears to be moving more grain and doing it more quickly and efficiently than ever, based on year-ending figures from the Canadian Grain Commission and the country’s two largest railway companies. According to the CGC, more than 40 million tonnes of cereals grains, pulses and oilseeds had been exported from […] Read more
Crop invaders: China’s small farmers struggle to defeat armyworm
MENGHAI, China (Reuters) – Yan Wenliu leans on the side of his cart as he prepares to leave his sugarcane field in Southwest China, bewildered by the formidable new pest that has ambushed his crops this year. “I don’t know what it is,” says Yan, a 36-year-old farmer from Menghai county in Yunnan province. “But […] Read more
USDA forecasts bigger-than-expected U.S. corn crop
CHICAGO, Aug. 12, (Reuters) – The U.S. corn harvest will be bigger than previously forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday, as the government issued a surprise boost to its yield estimate despite ongoing concerns in the country about a wet spring and dry summer limiting production. For the 2019/20 crop year, the […] Read more
Planning for weather continues to be farmers’ biggest wild card
OYEN, Alta. — It seems intuitive but weather rules everything on a grain farm. “Of all the things that might drive your yield, the weather is going to drive all of it. It is one of the things you can’t control so we plan everything around what you might expect to happen; then we pray […] Read more
Household name eyes ag imaging
Sony’s system uses a drone-mounted multispectral camera with two sensors to help producers create field maps
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Sony is bringing its digital camera and image processing expertise to the agriculture imaging market. The company’s scouting solution uses a drone-mounted multispectral camera with two sensors that capture 12 megapixel RGB, compressed RAW images and two megapixel, near infrared and red channels for NDVI maps. It also has a built-in […] Read more
Soil moisture sensors piece of cake to install
The sensors update information through a LoRaWAN or cellular network, enabling access to data any time farmers want it
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A rubber mallet and a smartphone are all the tools needed to install Sensoterra’s line of soil moisture sensors. “You stick them in the ground, you whack them real hard until they’re snug to the ground, and they are installed,” said Bas van der Velden of Sensoterra at InfoAg in St. […] Read more
Soil work begins with microscopic assessments
Lab research helps farmers understand the life underground as a first step toward improving the health of the soil
OYEN, Alta. — Yamily Zavala gets excited every time she identifies a new life form under her microscope. Squirming nematodes, fungi, bacteria and amoeba indicate there is a circle life in the soil to rebuild structure and help grow healthy plants on the surface. The head of the Chinook Applied Research Association (CARA) Soil Health […] Read moreApp offered as add-on to existing farm management systems
An image analysis service offers a smartphone app that identifies plant diseases, pests and weeds. “We are not a farm management system, we are a value-add, bolt-on to farm management systems,” said Craig Ganssle, founder and chief executive officer of Farmwave. “We do image analysis from disease and pest identification, diagnosis, severity rating, and we […] Read more
