The 15th annual ag innovations award is expected to be a highlight of this year’s Agri-Trade Equipment Expo in Red Deer. There are five finalists in the competition, which offers a $25,000 grand prize.
The innovations are born from years of dedication and ingenuity, says Craig Shaw, ag innovations committee chair.
“Innovation is the cornerstone of agriculture in Western Canada and we want to bring that innovation to the attendees at Agri-Trade,” Shaw said in a media release.
Read Also
Digestate can now be stored and applied as an organic fertilizer
Amendments to Alberta’s Agricultural Operation Practices Act (AOPA) now permit digestate and “select organic material” from non-agricultural businesses to be stored or composted in manure storage facilities before being applied to land.
Using a pitch-style format, each finalist will be given five minutes to demonstrate their entry.
“We look forward to showcasing these finalists along with the rest of the exhibitors at Agri-Trade this year,” said operations manager Krissy Fiddler. “Join us on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. at Agri-Trade, where these finalists will compete for excellence, push- ing the boundaries of what’s possible in agriculture.”
The top 5 finalists in alphabetical order:
AGRA GPS
The firm’s CRG is the first non-John Deere receiver fully compatible with John Deere displays.
It supports all four satellite systems, comes unlocked with RTK and requires no subscriptions.
It works with industry standard corrections for RTK and has sub-inch accuracy. In addition, it includes a JD-Bridge, which allows the CRG to enable John Deere displays to autosteer machines from other brands. agragps.com
Combinesettings.com
This entrant aims to help farmers save time and make more money. It has centralized peer to peer information sharing in the agriculture industry with a custom platform that allows farmers to connect directly, share combine setting data and transfer knowledge
By verifying users, it gives farmers access to peer-approved settings information quickly, specific to crop, combine type, equipment and geography.
It all happens “…without scrolling social media or calling seven neighbours and the mechanic.” combinesettings.com
Ground Truth Ag
Ground Truth Agriculture is building a system that provides real-time grain quality data for the supply chain. The benchtop device combines advanced machine vision tools and lab techniques to conduct grain analysis and provide results.
With immediate analysis, farmers can make informed decisions on marketing, crop inputs, soil management and inventory optimization.
This same system is also being designed for future use on the combine to provide precise location- based information and ensure a more thorough grain quality profile.
Ground Truth Agriculture says the product removes subjectivity and inconsistency from the grad- ing process. groundtruth.ag
M-MRWS
From Iran comes a new mechanism and design for an irrigation dripper with a fixed discharge rate and anti- clogging device.
The M-MRWS is produced by the Danesh Mehvar Artakhe (WaterSuAb) company from Islamic Azad University, Buin Zahra Branch, Incubator Center in the City of Booein Zahra in Iran.
It says the irrigation dripper can deliver a uniform output in a range from one to 200 Kpa, prevents clogging and allows passage of particles with a diameter of 1500 microns. watersuab.com/en
Spider Hitch
Spider Hitch is an innovative solution to tackle an old problem: hooking up headers behind combines. It eliminates the need for a driver to look through dusty mirrors to interpret hand gestures as they try to line up a huge machine to a small hitch.
As combines and headers get larger and harvesting windows are tight, there’s a need for both speed and safety even with fewer people in the field. A Spider Hitch allows one operator to quickly and safely pull the header toward the combine.
The self-latching feature works with the winch, operated with either a wireless remote, corded remote or Bluetooth app to get the job done from a safe distance. This eliminates the danger of people working near or under large machinery while in motion. spiderhitch.ca
