Reading Time: 5 minutes Ben Scott builds proteins. You got that? He is not looking for proteins. He creates them, from scratch. Scott is an engineering biology expert at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He is helping GIFS build an engineering biology foundry to design, build and test new enzyme […] Read more
Get more shots on goal with AI
The Global Institute for Food Security in Saskatoon is planning to lead the world into a future where computers can re-design and improve natural compounds and where science will make bigger strides than ever before
The slow evolution toward real-time variable rate fertilizer
Variable rate fertilizer to apply the best rate for each acre has merit, but the cost and the hassle to make it work does not appeal to many farmers. The return does not seem to justify the work required. Can we change that with a real-time on-the-go system?
Reading Time: 5 minutes We need to hit the “easy button” on variable rate fertilizer and move away from the default blanket application. But for that to happen, the variable rate (VR) system must become as seamless and easy as the blanket application. And more profitable. One can envision an on-the-go system like optical weed spraying, except in this […] Read more
Down the road from Jeremy Clarkson
They’re each calledJeremy and each is a unique U.K. farmer of a kind you may never find in Canada. On top of that, our Jay Whetter is a fan of both. But which is the one we should be watching?
Reading Time: 9 minutes I was coming into the very southwest of England, into the county called Cornwall, where there was a lot I wanted to see and do, including a visit to farmer I’d been looking forward to meeting here named Jeremy Oatey. Before going to the airport, a colleague at the Canola Council of Canada asked me […] Read more
AI for data analysis
[AI for the Farm] Farms are building giant heaps of data. Somewhere in them is something valuable, call it a star of hope. But how do you pick out the useful stuff? It looks like artificial intelligence will help
Reading Time: 6 minutes Your conversation starts with a text on your device: FARMER: “Farmbot, please make me a prescription map.” BOT REPLIES TO FARMER VIA TEXT: Would you like to do variable rate seeding on field 10?FARMER: Seed costs are higher, so yes.BOT: Would you like me to produce a rate map for you?FARMER: Yes.The Bot provides the map […] Read more
How optical sprayers do a whole lot more
[Better Advice] Optical spraying systems can pay off if used only for pre-seed burnoffs, but with a little pushing of boundaries, these farmers are finding they can also use the technology to target fungicides and pre-harvest desiccants
Reading Time: 5 minutes Early adopters are buying optical spraying systems to greatly reduce the amount of herbicide required for pre-season burnoff of weeds. This alone is often enough to justify the cost for larger farms that cover thousands of acres per year. But pre-seed burnoff — seeing green weeds on brown ground and spraying them — is just […] Read more
Are the reservoir dog days ending?
If the new canola processors announced for Regina become fully functioning facilities, they could process an additional 4.5 million tonnes of canola per year. Could Lake Diefenbaker water help?
Reading Time: 9 minutes The quickest path from Regina, Sask., to Steve Nelson’s farm at Birsay is to cross Lake Diefenbaker on the Riverhurst Ferry. The flat-deck ferry travels on the hour, carrying vehicles across the two-kilometre expanse of water, cutting highway travel time by at least an hour, maybe two. As a bonus, the experience gets travellers up […] Read more
The satisfying pulverization of weed seeds
Weed seed destroyers mounted on combines provide a different approach — in timing and technique — to power up an integrated weed-management program
Reading Time: 6 minutes Josh Lade has an Australian urge to crush weed seeds into fine powder. Lade, who farms at Osler, Sask., rigged the farm’s combines with Seed Terminator chaff mills so weeds don’t “dictate the way I farm” like they do for farmers in Australia. Lade grew up on a mixed farm on Kangaroo Island, near Adelaide, […] Read more
Don’t be a silly one, scout for verticillium
Reading Time: 4 minutes On Aug. 10, 2020, Brad Crammond noticed some sudden and premature die-off in a seemingly healthy field of canola. “We’ve had issues with blackleg in the past,” says the farmer from Austin, Man., “and I could tell this was something different.” So he called Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist Angela Brackenreed to take a […] Read more
260,000 canola seeds per acre, placed precisely
With the precision placement of a planter, Edmund Rath achieves 88 to 93 per cent canola seed emergence, a big improvement from the typical 50 to 60 per cent with his air seeder
Reading Time: 5 minutes When asked for his canola seeding rate, Edmund Rath answers “260,000 seeds per acre.” This is not the usual answer. Five pounds per acre, give or take a pound, is the common response. “After May 15, I cut that down to 240,000,” he adds. Here’s a quick translation: With 43,560 square feet in an acre, […] Read more
Four canola seed considerations for 2022
The best cultivar is usually the one with a risk-and-reward combination that suits the situation in each farm and field
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canola growers are always looking for ways to improve yields and profitability, and that may be especially true after 2021. While drought tolerance and enhanced water-use efficiency are not available traits at this time, growers do have a few options available that could somewhat reduce production risks in 2022. Days to maturity Canola growers could […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
