Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s yet another option in the growing list of options for precision farming software. Introduced in 2019, Corteva’s Granular Insights is billed as a platform to help growers scout their fields and find in-season problems faster. It has expanded since and can now upload planting and harvest data, use satellite and aerial imagery and provide […] Read more
Another digital option for farmers
Precision Farming: Corteva’s Granular Insights platform can implement data as far back as 2016
Precision ag needs and wants
Precision Farming: The technology is out there, but should you make the decision to give it a try?
Reading Time: 5 minutes You could say that most farmers are already sold on the benefits of precision agriculture — depending on how you define the term, and how many of the benefits are wants versus needs. “Farmers do things along a spectrum,” says Marvin Talsma, product marketing manager for Climate FieldView, Bayer CropScience’s precision agriculture data platform. “There […] Read more
Sprayer designs save the day
Chemical application is under the microscope, and farmers around the world face future limitations on inputs, especially herbicides
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Welcome to the new world of spraying,” quipped Roeland Coopman, chief commercial officer at Agrifac, a European-based sprayer manufacturer, as he made a presentation during a recent online media conference streamed live from Paris, France. Those words are no exaggeration. How chemicals are applied on farm fields in developed countries across the planet is poised […] 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
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
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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
