Reading Time: 6 minutes A few years ago I was at John Deere World Headquarters in Illinois for the official unveiling of the brand’s S Series combines. To put some perspective on how big a deal this was, Deere’s marketing team guided us to the building’s large auditorium. There, they put their spotlights on a gleaming, impressive new S9, […] Read more
A glimpse into the past: How we got to the modern combine
Want to see how much change has come to farming in your parents’ lifetime? Just look at how they get the harvest in
Low-clearance spraying
Startup company is beginning with weed mapping by drones, but sees a future for spraying by swarms of mini crop dusters
Reading Time: 4 minutes A well-funded Regina-based robotics and artificial intelligence firm sees a future in spraying with drones, potentially cutting herbicide use by up to 95 per cent. In the meantime, it’s working on a system of conventional spraying using information gathered by a drone survey. Dan McCann, founder and CEO of Precision AI, claims conventional spraying results […] Read more
Used farm equipment sees big demand
There’s something very new — and unsettling — about this year’s used equipment market
Reading Time: 7 minutes This year, any farmer expecting a new tractor in time for spring seeding knows they shouldn’t hold their breath. It may or may not arrive on time. Problems including staff shortages, transportation bottlenecks, a shortage of components — all a result of COVID-19 in one way or another — have hit ag equipment manufacturers simultaneously […] Read more
The robots are here, and ready to weed your field
Robotics has started revolutionizing even the toughest jobs like weed control. Horticulture crops are first, but row crop robots are coming too
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the 20-plus years of precision agriculture, most field jobs have evolved so they can incorporate some level of data retrieval, prescription mapping, overhead imagery, or specific in-field applications like auto-steer and downforce components. But not all field jobs. Precision ag had seemed like it would also lead to site-specific weeding, but this never gained […] Read more
The right sprayer for the job
Farmers are in love with the self-propelled sprayer, but it isn’t always the right choice
Reading Time: 5 minutes Anyone who has walked the aisles of Agritechnica in Germany, the world’s premiere global farm machinery event, would have quickly noticed the many and varied sprayers and brand names behind them that serve the European market. Farmers there have a virtual smorgasbord of brands and models to choose from. And there is another surprise too. […] Read more
Taking crop imaging to a new level
A pilot project in Ontario is collecting images from manned aircraft at 10,000 feet
Reading Time: 5 minutes The chance to gain a bird’s-eye view of a growing crop is one of the biggest attractions of precision agriculture, but the degree of precision depends on the tools. So far, growers and advisors have had a choice of either satellite images or those from drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Each has advantages and […] Read more
Whoops… wrong field
How growers and applicators can work together to prevent spraying errors
Reading Time: 4 minutes The wrong restaurant order. The wrong order for a replacement part. The wrong medical procedure. Mistakes are part of every profession — including crop spraying. During a Telus crop protection webinar in June, participants were asked whether they had ever had an incident of spraying the wrong field or the wrong product. Fifty-three per cent […] Read more
Machines vs. climate
Shrewd machinery purchases have always been essential on the farm, but not like this. Emerging technologies mean huge potential payoffs for getting it right, and even bigger penalties if you don’t. Think precision farming. Think surviving climate change
Reading Time: 8 minutes In the last two or three decades, farmers have been offered a dizzying array of new features on ag equipment. There’s more power, more capacity, auto guidance, the list goes on. Yet now, looking to the future, it will be even more crucial to make the best possible purchase decisions and to integrate your technology […] Read more
Time to hit ‘Print’ for that machinery part?
How about using your 3D printer to reproduce broken machinery parts? That capability is already here, and it’s getting better all the time
Reading Time: 4 minutes First, let’s get the name right. Until now, we’ve been calling it 3D printing. It’s a name that will probably stick around for a while, but those in the know are already calling it by its newer name, “additive manufacturing.” “The technology is far, far more user friendly and there are really good desktop printers […] Read more
Options for monitoring grain bins
3D imaging and CO2 detection are offered as options for monitoring temperature and moisture
Reading Time: 4 minutes Bin monitoring has come a long way since probes on sticks and necessarily so — as the size of grain bins has grown, so has the value of their contents. One 10,000-bushel bin can surpass $100,000. Everyone has heard horror stories of entire bins ruined, but Joy Agnew, associate vice-president of applied research for Olds […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
