Canadian-developed autonomous field unit DOT has made its debut in Ontario, beginning with a commercial fertilizer application in Chatham-Kent. This first autonomous unit is owned by Haggerty Creek and contributes to operator efficiency, says Chuck Baresich, general manager of Haggerty Creek. “The operator can be answering calls and providing service to customers while the machine… Read More
Adopting new technology on the farm — from new hybrids to new pesticides, to full-on automation — comes with a price tag. This new or additional cost might be absolutely worth it if the technology makes more yield, decreases input costs, or saves you time and labour. While most technology comes to the farm with… Read More
At the National Farm Machinery Show at Louisville, Kentucky, Trimble was providing a connected farm tour. One of the highlighted kiosks shown was the steering and guidance solutions station that featured the brand-new GFX-350 display. The Android-based platform is on a 7″ display and runs Precision IQ — the Trimble software. Jesse Chisholm, director of… Read More
What technology can do for farmers in today’s day and age is incredible when compared to what there was even just 10 or 20 years ago. That being said, adopting technology can also have setbacks when it comes to cost, availability, ease of use, and more. At this year’s CropSphere conference, Brian Tischler, farmer from… Read More
A new sprayer prototype built through the collaboration of three companies, is looking to lower the cost of production and protect the environment by providing real time detection and spray application of weeds in row crops. Developed through the joint efforts of Amazone, Bosch and xarvio, SmartSprayer uses software based on economic thresholds to make… Read More
Canadian telecommunications company Telus has acquired a second agriculture company, Decisive Farming. Although some were keen to point out the new logo on the Decisive Farming website, including the phrase ‘powered by TELUS’ the purchase was confirmed today by Decisive Farming spokesperson, Breanne Baker. “Yes, Decisive Farming has joined the TELUS family,” she wrote in… Read More
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like doctors and farmers have all that much in common. When you dig a little deeper, however, there is at least one major similarity: up until about five to 10 years ago doctors worked almost exclusively with paper records. Farmers largely still do. But Telus, with its recent purchase… Read More
We’ve all heard the phrase “plant to moisture,” but we’ve also seen the moisture variability that can occur within a few paces, never mind over an entire field. Precision Planting LLC is working on a technology that will take moisture variability into account, automatically adjusting drilling depth on-the-go. The system uses SmartDepth (a prototype) in… Read More
What could Canadian agriculture achieve if it had 123,000 new skilled workers over the next decade? According to RBC Royal Bank, all that new labour would help the sector realize its tremendous economic potential and could contribute an additional $11 billion to Canada’s GDP by 2030, making agriculture more productive than auto manufacturing and aerospace… Read More
Naïo Technologies’ autonomous weeding robot for vegetable production is heading into 2020 with an improved offering — it is now able to weed around plants, as well as between rows. “We want to offer one solution for farmers who [don’t] want to use herbicides. Mechanical weeding is a huge task — they spend a lot… Read More
Not all concepts exhibited at Agritechnica make it to commercialization. Instead of moving an individual piece of equipment forward, it’s usually a concept that clicks, is picked up by engineers, and moves forward. For Wes Lefroy, agricultural analyst with RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness — Australia and New Zealand, one of the most interesting aspects of… Read More
RealAgriculture’s coverage of Agritechnica 2019 is made possible by Brevant seeds. The latest technology, locally tested. Brevant seeds. Seed. Yield. Easy. Ever since drones starting gaining more traction on farms, there have been farmers talking about whether one day drones would fill the sky, spraying crops. Think about it: no soil compaction or mechanical crop damage during… Read More
Raven Industries, Inc. has taken majority ownership in autonomous farming platform DOT Technology Corp, the company says. The funds garnered in the sale will be used to “support the continued commercialization and evolution of the Dot Power Platform and Dot Ready Implements.” Raven and Dot began working together in May 2018, when it was announced… Read More
After identifying a need for aerial spraying services on large farms, an Ontario-based start-up has developed a fully-automated unmanned aerial vehicle for the Canadian market. “Typically most drones you see out there for aerial spraying are fairly small capacity… and for North American farms…it’s just not going to cut it,” says Meng Wei, CEO and… Read More
Nutrien Ag Solutions’ digital portal gives its customers everything they need — from agronomic data and support to account data — to make timely decisions throughout the growing season at the touch of a finger. In this interview at the recent Farm Progress Show at Decatur, Illinois, Nutrien’s digital vice president Sol Goldfarb explains new… Read More