Ghaziabad, India | Reuters — In a surprise announcement Friday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would repeal agriculture laws that farmers have been protesting against for more than a year, sparking celebrations for what farmers called a hard-fought victory. Modi’s decision is a significant climb-down for the combative leader and comes as state […] Read more
India’s Modi backs down on farm reforms in surprise win for protesters
Laws to be repealed in upcoming parliament session; protests to continue until then
GM aims to tackle chip shortage with new designs
Chip-making investments to be in U.S., Canada
Reuters — General Motors aims to tackle the global semiconductor shortage with new designs built in North America, president Mark Reuss said on Thursday. Reuss told an investor conference GM is working with seven chip suppliers on three new families of microcontrollers that will reduce the number of unique chips by 95 per cent on […] Read more
THE NEW ENERGY BOOM: The sun is shining on Alberta’s solar industry
Every sector of Alberta’s solar energy industry is seeing strong demand — including from agriculture
Reading Time: 6 minutes Alberta may be oil and gas country, but right now, another natural resource is booming in the province — solar energy. “Alberta is by far the fastest-growing solar market in Canada right now,” said Nicholas Gall, director of distributed energy resources for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. “Large corporate buyers — companies like Amazon, Budweiser, […] Read more
Precision ag tech takes centre stage at Lakeland College
Students of new degree program are excited about future careers in a revolutionary industry
Reading Time: 5 minutes Within the first week of being back on campus and starting the classes I knew this is where I wanted to be. I feel like I’ve learned more in the sixth week of being here than I have in the last six weeks of any other part of my education.” So said Courtney Wallace, a […] Read more
Schoepp: Growing food in space could spark big changes on Earth
Scientists are looking at how to grow food on Mars and their research could change the food sector here
Reading Time: 3 minutes “When we go to Mars, we will have to grow our own food.” Canadian physician, engineer and former astronaut Robert Thirsk made that comment when asked a question on the preservation of seed at the Canadian Beef Industry Virtual Conference in late August. Since a space vessel cannot carry enough food to fly to, and then conduct […] Read more
Drone tech’s next big target? Insect pest management
There are multiple potential future applications for drone tech in the works
Reading Time: 2 minutes Drones keep getting smaller and smaller, while their potential applications keep getting bigger and bigger. And now unmanned aircraft systems are taking on some of the world’s biggest small problems: insect pests. From crop-munching caterpillars to disease-transmitting mosquitoes, insects that threaten crops, ecosystems, and public health are increasingly being targeted with new pest-management strategies that […] Read more
Government cash offered for new technology
Reading Time: < 1 minute The new Farm Technology Program is accepting applications to support adoption of technology to minimize waste, optimize efficiency, and encourage adoption of best management practices in farm security. This 50-50 cost-share program provides incentives on new technologies that are commercially available and already demonstrated under Alberta conditions. Two streams are available. The Farm Technology stream […] Read more
Hay-starved Prairies fertile ground for online scammers
At least $64,000 lost in Alberta alone, RCMP says
High demand, scarce supplies and rising prices for hay and other feeds due to this summer’s drought on the Prairies have made a market for online scammers, RCMP warn. The urgency driving such transactions may cause ranchers, farmers and farm workers to make purchases “without taking time to properly verify or research production sources,” Alberta […] Read more
Deere’s U.S. workers on strike after rejecting deal
Reuters — Thousands of Deere and Co. workers began a strike on Thursday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) said, days after overwhelmingly rejecting a six-year labour contract that was agreed on with the tractor maker. Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW union reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation […] Read more
CNH to temporarily shut several plants in Europe
Eight-day shutdown due to supply disruptions
Reuters — Italian-American vehicle maker CNH Industrial said Wednesday it will temporarily shut several of its European agricultural, commercial vehicle and powertrain manufacturing facilities due to the disruptions of procurement of components, including semiconductors. The maker of farm machinery, Iveco commercial vehicles, construction equipment and powertrains plans to shut the concerned plants for eight working […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
