New technologies may work in the lab or in a research setting, but can they provide value in the real-world on a modern, large-scale commercial farm? That’s the basic premise behind a unique arrangement that has come to be known as “Innovation Farms,” just northwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Grosse Isle-area farmer and long-time seed grower… Read More
Category: Precision Farming
Is it efficient to use autonomous vehicle in row crop agriculture in southwestern Ontario? That’s a question cash crop farmer Mark Richards is wrestling with on his Dresden, Ont. farm. In 2022, he used a solar-powered FarmDroid robot to plant sugar beets. That machine found it challenging to adapt to the widespread use of strip… Read More
Could cameras mounted on sprayer booms help revolutionize crop scouting, stand assessment and the gathering of crop management information? On this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, we ride along with the SWAT Cam to learn how these sprayer-mounted cameras scout fields and gather information agronomists and growers can utilize to make crop management decisions. Agronomist… Read More
Minimizing erosion, better crop inputs management and higher corn yields is what Port Rowan, Ont., farmer Dan Petker was looking for when he adopted strip tillage five years ago. Farming with his family on the shores of Lake Erie, Petker turned to strip till — the process of minimizing tillage by cultivating eight-inch wide strips… Read More
Case IH has plans to pump up the horsepower offering for its AFS Connect Steiger series tractors with six all-new, high-powered models for 2024. The manufacturer says the Steiger 425, 475, 525, 555, 595 and 645 tractors, which are scheduled to go into production during the fourth quarter of 2023, will have the power to… Read More
CNH Industrial — the parent company of Case and New Holland — has entered into an agreement to purchase global satellite positioning company Hemisphere GNSS, whose subsidiaries include Outback Guidance. Hemisphere is owned by Unistrong, which is based in China. “This move enhances our automation and autonomy tech stack and broadens our talent pool,” said… Read More
John Deere is offering all new displays, receivers and modems in its precision agriculture line up. The new displays — the G5 plus and G5 — will offer three times more processing speed. Producers around the world share similar needs, and John Deere recognizes the importance of working with producers as they make advances in… Read More
Case IH is aiming to help growers get the most out of every seed with new AFS Furrow Command for its precision disc series air drills. The technology essentially allows growers to automate downforce on the parallel-link row-units to maintain consistent seed depth regardless of terrain. The company unveiled AFS Furrow Command downforce automation last… Read More
As the use of data to manage farm operations increases with both the availability and adoption of new technology, so does the farmers’ trust in sharing this data with suppliers. In November of 2022, RealAgristudies partnered with Farm Credit Canada to learn more about how farmers’ feelings towards the usage and sharing of their data… Read More
Farmer-designed research is a collaborative way of solving problems and innovating based on farmer’s own experiences and needs. Louis Longchamps, a professor of digital agronomy at Cornell University, says that effective design of on-farm research is important to get the most out of the work. He points out that farmers already collect plenty of rough… Read More
Variable rate technology has been slow to establish on a broad-scale in agriculture, but there is always more to learn about the technology and its applications. Arnold Schumann is a researcher and professor with the University of Florida and adjunct professor at Dalhousie University working on agricultural applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in berry and… Read More
A new certificate program offered by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) will set out to provide students the opportunity to “gain knowledge and develop experiential skills in precision agriculture by leveraging competencies from their academic discipline.” Housed in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, the certificate will bring together USask students from AgBio, the College… Read More
How visible is grain in a grower’s bin? How can they better assess grain quality and manage the investment? AGI Farmobile’s Harley Janssen feels the company’s BinManager automaton program provides a digital solution that allows growers to effectively tackle these questions. In this interview from the Farm Progress Show at Boone, Iowa, Janssen, vice president… Read More
Technology is continuously changing, and along with that is how we implement said technology on farms. For this edition of The Agronomists, host Lyndsey Smith is joined by Garth Donald of Decisive Farming, and Caleb Niemeyer of Woodrill Ltd, to discuss variable rate applications for seed and fertilizer. This episode of The Agronomists is brought… Read More
Soil, water and topography maps — more commonly know as SWAT Maps — are becoming a familiar management tool for corn producers. These high-resolution soil foundation maps are used to execute variable rate fertilizer, seed, soil amendment and pesticide applications. On this episode of the RealAgriculture Corn School, host Bernard Tobin catches up with Sullivan… Read More