A Saskatoon judge has granted the Morris Group, including its mainstay Morris Industries, financial protection from its creditors. According to court documents, the company applied for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act while it undertakes a restructuring plan. The affidavit filed by chief operating officer Kevin Adair said Morris after its 2017 restructuring “undertook […] Read more
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When should farmers embrace new tech?
When should you embrace the bold technologies that promise to transform your farm? “Figure out when they pay,” says Kansas State University agricultural economist Terry Griffin. That simple approach isn’t easy to apply, with multiple ways of assessing a technology’s return on investment, but it helps simplify the anxiety some farmers experience when they are […] Read more
What motivates farmers to upgrade their tech?
Millennials are keener than their baby boomer parents to adopt new technologies. Except for automated steering for farm machinery. Why would that be? Unravelling that mystery revealed much to Kansas State University agricultural economist Terry Griffin about the complexities of technology adoption on today’s farms. Related story: When should farmers embrace new tech? “What’s the […] Read more
New sample system runs via bluetooth
Grain sampling systems provide a representative sample, traceability, and enable real-time analysis of grain
The standard scoop on a stick-sampling technique may soon be a thing of the past with VeriGrain’s launch of its 300 series automated sampling and data management system during Crop Production Week in Saskatoon. VeriGrain is a subsidiary of Intellicon. However, Intellicon chief executive officer Ken Jackson said VeriGrain is significant enough to warrant its […] Read more
Can farm equipment truly be sustainable?
A Manitoba farmer asks, “how sustainable is my five-year old German combine that’s maybe still functional for another decade, but now it’s junk because I can’t find a replacement electronic panel?” And sure enough, the panel he needed was nowhere to be found. Every scrapped Claas had already long ago been stripped of this particular […] 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
WP January 2nd edition will arrive late
Due to unforeseen circumstances the January 2nd issue of The Western Producer will be late arriving. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. The January 2, 2020 “Digital Edition” will be available online at its usual time, early Thursday morning, here: https://www.producer.com/digital-edition/
Are we ready for electric tractors?
Car and truck manufacturers are falling off the fossil fuel bandwagon in droves and jumping on the electric train. Now add tractors to that list. Every month, another e-tractor announcement comes across our desks. Environmental factors drive this trend, along with energy efficiency, lower maintenance, lower noise level and motor longevity. There are more e-tractors […] Read more
Robotic farming project focuses on swarms
The Hands Free Hectare project in Britain finds that many small robots may work better than larger, manned machinery
A study of autonomous farming at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, England, found that swarm farming with many small robots may be more efficient than farming with larger, manned machinery. “The initial economic analysis suggests that robots could cut the cost of producing wheat in the United Kingdom by 10 to 15 percent compared to […] Read more
Are e-tractors practical?
Even when purchase prices come down, will it ever be practical to run a big battery powered 4×4 to replace your Versatile? We will see bigger battery tractors than we have now, for sure, but they will be very expensive until battery costs comes down. For now, Europeans can buy a 70-horsepower electric tractor with […] Read more
