MARICOPA, Ariz. — DOT Technologies Corp. has brought in Rob Saik as chief executive officer of DOT Ready Retail, a new sales and marketing side of the business. DOT is a Saskatchewan-built robotic platform designed to bring autonomous farming to broad acre grain production. “DOT Ready Retail will run in parallel to the DOT manufacturing […] Read more
Machinery — page 2
Russian tractor turns to German technology
The big MTZ 4WD,which is based on the old Belarus 7010, has Bosh electrics/hydraulics and Mercedes power
The new 4WD K744 tractor is powered by a 435 horsepower Mercedes engine with Bosch electronics and Bosch 74 gallon per minute hydraulics, new cab and a price tag of $290,000. The K744 is based on the old Belarus 7010 tractor but with numerous upgrades. The Russian-built unit has a semi-powershift transmission with 16F plus […] Read more
Weed-plucking robot roams fields
This tiny high-tech robot from Illinois recognizes young weeds and yanks the ravaging intruders hard by the neck
Herbicide resistance is costing millions. Tillage fosters erosion. So, might you be interested in a 25-pound, 12-inch wide robot that travels between crop rows plucking out weeds? A new robot with a single-minded focus on yanking young weeds is attracting the attention of Illinois corn growers. TerraSentia is a small, totally independent robot that works […] Read more
Robotic soil sampler eases workload
Rogo Ag hopes to have the autonomous soil sampler working in Canadian fields in the 2020 growing season
A Bobcat-mounted robotic soil sampler offers users consistent core samples and appears likely to drive down prices for sampling services. “It’s a completely autonomous robot. We developed all the technology in house, except the Bobcat platform that it rides on. We just drive it to a field, you unload it from the trailer, hit go […] Read more
Swiss company develops new weed controller
A machine that destroys weeds using an electric current has been developed by a Swiss company, which will be marketed by Case IH under the XPower brand. This new system uses electrical current to control weeds and is the winner of a bronze medal in the Innovation Awards given by the organizers of the agri-business […] Read more
Agriculture has the potential to change the world
Welcome to our annual special edition, which we at the Western Producer affectionately call Issue 52. Each year, for the last edition, we select a topic and take a deep dive with our entire newsroom. We parse the topics and go long, finding out what’s new and improving in the industry. We started this back […] Read more
Automated farming: it may be here quicker than you think
CALGARY — Autonomous farming isn’t just a cool idea, it’s a big, iron reality coming to Western Canada this coming year. And once it’s here, autonomous farming could begin sweeping away today’s machines the way cars and tractors swept away horses in North America’s cities and on its farmland. “We are the tip of the […] Read more
Grasping at straws
It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Where some see waste moving out the back end of combines, Catherine Hui Niu sees great opportunity. “Can we explore new use of those materials? Can we make better use, discover new technology to reuse those materials, recycle them, or add value to them?” asked Niu, associate […] Read more
The wild west of agricultural data
Canadian agriculture is in the midst of a sea change that stems from the digitization of farm production data. The sector was a little tardy in showing up for the digital revolution, but most growers now use techniques powered by complex algorithms and massive datasets. Telematics, cloud storage and processing, internet of things (IOT), sensors, […] Read more
Small satellite networks: more than a pretty picture
Faster, smarter, sharper with more options describes the latest satellite technology information and services being delivered to growers. Hundreds of the toaster-sized units orbit the Earth taking thousands of snapshots of all corners of the globe every day. The rapid evolution in satellite technology has made high-resolution aerial field photos readily available to all farmers. […] Read more
