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
Category: Precision Farming
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
Kinze is rolling out a new configuration of its 36-row, 20-inch planter for spring 2020. The Iowa-based manufacturer has added a string of technological advancements to its 4700 planter, which it unveiled at the recent Farm Progress Show at Decatur, Illinois. In this video, Eric Broadbent, Kinze’s North American sales director, explains that the new… Read More
Curious, enthusiastic and sceptical farmers welcomed Dot Technology Corp (Dot) to eastern Canada this week as the company rolled out an autonomous row crop planter prototype at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. Dot has been a Western Canada phenomenon as Norbert Beaujot, founder of Saskatchewan-based SeedMaster Manufacturing and Dot Technology Corp, has quickly created a buzz… Read More
Case IH is delivering more power and connectivity with its new AFS Connect Magnum 400 horsepower tractor. Jay Barth, Case IH high-horsepower marketing manager, says the company’s goal is to match Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) technology with a 400 horsepower Magnum to help improve producers’ workflow, productivity, and efficiency for demanding jobs that require additional… Read More
Making its eastern Canada debut, Dot — along with SeedMaster — will unveil a new prototype for a planter at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, at Woodstock, Ont., September 10 to 12. “When Dot first launched, we had many farmers asking when they would see an autonomous planter added to our lineup,” says Norbert Beaujot, founder… Read More
With precision agriculture becoming less of an idea and more of a reality for farmers, one Canadian company has jumped on board with drone technology to help farmers when they scout. Melissa Silvernagle, precision agronomy technical lead with AgraCity Crop and Nutrition says she was amazed by the way scouting is changing with the integration… Read More
Ag Growth International Inc. is making a minority equity investment of US$15 million in Farmobile, Inc. Farmobile, headquartered in Leawood, Kansas, is an independent agriculture technology company, providing hardware and software services for the real-time collection, organization, analysis, and storage of farm data. The Farmobile device collects and streams real-time, geo-tagged agronomic and machine data… Read More
More than 5,000 acres were seeded this year using the autonomous, diesel-powered Dot Power Platform. “DOT went commercial this year,” says Rob Saik, CEO of Dot’s retail entity. “We had about a half dozen units that were in the Saskatchewan market place working on about four commercial farms. We went through a cycle of activity,… Read More