Fine-tuning nitrogen rates promises to get easier with the arrival of ‘tailgate technology’ that allows growers to test for nitrates on the tailgate of their truck. That means no more couriering soil samples to the lab, or waiting for up to three days for results in the busy season. In this episode of the Corn School,… Read More
Category: Technology
Yield history, soil type, fertility, drainage, irrigation potential, and cropping options — those have traditionally been some of the main factors considered when assessing the value or rental rate for a parcel of farmland. But with telematics and data collection capabilities of farm equipment expanding rapidly, there’s another field characteristic that should probably be considered:… Read More
Trying to remember the re-entry interval of a herbicide you just sprayed? Or wondering what personal protective equipment (PPE) to pack? Or maybe you just want to know if your insect repellant protects against black flies or ticks? Health Canada has an app for all of those things. It’s called Pesticide Labels, and allows users to quickly… Read More
Headlines in mainstream news last week declared that genetically engineered (GE) crops are no more dangerous to humans than conventional crops following the release of a major study looking at the risks and benefits of GE crops. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published what many have called the most thorough review to… Read More
Similar to how auto-steer has allowed farmers to focus on other tasks rather than steering while crawling up or down a field, a new California company is testing self-driving semis to make trucking safer and allow drivers to do something else between exits on the interstate. Otto, which announced its existence last week, was founded by… Read More
The online sharing concept that has produced Uber, Airbnb and other examples of peer-to-peer services aimed at better utilizing existing capital is developing in the U.S. farm machinery market. MachineryLink Sharing, which launched in the fourth quarter of 2015, bills itself as the industry’s first internet-based equipment sharing program. Farmers, and even some equipment dealers,… Read More
A new report published Tuesday has mainstream media talking about genetically engineered crops. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a highly-respected organization set up by U.S. Congress back in 1863 to give independent advice on issues related to science, published an extensive review looking at the risks and benefits of GE crops. Proponents hope… Read More
Three engineering students from the University of Regina won an international ag robotics competition in Indiana last week. The agBOT Challenge saw teams compete to build the most efficient, unmanned seeder, capable of planting two different varieties in half-mile passes while maintaining control and providing data back to the operator (see the lengthy and impressive list of expectations… Read More
“Innovation” is a buzzword in today’s world, often associated with technology, but it’s not necessarily about gadgets, as our guest for this episode in the Mind Your Farm Business series points out. “Innovation really is about grabbing ideas from other parts of the planet or other ideas you see people doing and bringing that back… Read More
The gene gun, the first of which literally used a .22-calibre bullet, was invented by plant geneticists working at Cornell University in the 1980s as a way of injecting DNA into plant cells. The technology made the process of introducing new genetic material to many major crops, including corn and wheat, much more efficient, helping to create plants with resistance… Read More
Dairy farmers who make the switch to robot milkers are very predictable, says Brussels, Ontario farmer Joe Terpstra. When Terpstra and three other dairy producers took to the stage at the 2016 Canadian Dairy XPO to share their experiences with robot milking, all four seemed to be singing from the same songbook. Improved cow health,… Read More
Ask Francisco Rodriquez a question about dairy robots and he’ll tell you about people. With more than 38,000 robots milking cows on 19,000 farms around the globe, the technology is becoming ubiquitous throughout the dairy business. But what does it mean for dairy producers as technology revolutionizes the traditional daily milking grind? “The future in… Read More
There’s something about sprayers that makes them a “farmer magnet,” as Tom Wolf describes them. Tom and his “Exploding Spray Myths” partner-in-crime from OMAFRA, Jason Deveau, stopped by the RealAg studio at FarmTech to chat about what it is about pipes and pumps and nozzles that had farmers rappelling in from the ceiling (apparently) to get a… Read More
Do you know which fields make you money and which ones don’t? At what point in the year do you sit down and determine what your breakeven costs are for a specific piece of land? The FieldValues app was designed to help farmers keep information about costs and break-even prices current throughout the growing season…. Read More
John Deere continues to update its online tools to give farmers easier access to information to manage their operations. The latest updates to the John Deere Operations Center were unveiled at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, in February. The Operations Center allows users to see performance over time and collaborate with partners… Read More