Reading Time: 4 minutes A single drone can fly into rough terrain and spray herbicide on hard-to-reach patches of weeds. Fly three of the largest in tandem and they have the airborne equivalent of a 100-foot spray boom, say proponents, with a cost one-quarter to one-third that of a 100-foot boom. Welcome to the world of drones that can […] Read more
Drones are ready to go spraying but regs haven’t kept up
Larger drones now a viable alternative but federal rules don’t allow spraying crop protection products
The shortage of farm equipment may not ease until 2024
Dealers — and a new report from FCC — suggest tight supplies are the ‘new normal’ and unlikely to change soon
Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Farm equipment dealer Guy Deroche was pleasantly surprised about parts orders this fall when delivery was better than expected. Supply chain disruptions were a hallmark of the year, forcing producers and agri-businesses to scramble for inputs, for equipment components, for livestock ear tags and a long list of consumer products. There were […] Read more
Global equipment makers take notice of Agri-Trade
This year’s event will feature a special German Pavilion and attract buyers from around the world
Reading Time: 3 minutes German engineering and homegrown country music are two things marking the return of a full-scale Agri-Trade this November in Red Deer. Organizers of the ag equipment expo have been working with counterparts at German ag trade show company IFWexpo to bring manufacturers from that country to Alberta. IFWexpo organizes German Pavilions on behalf of Germany’s […] Read more
No end in sight for soaring farm equipment costs
It’s not just the price tags on new equipment that’s shocking, it’s also the spillover effect in the used market
Reading Time: 3 minutes Prices for farm equipment continue to rise. And it’s not just fancy new iron that’s causing farmers to do double takes. How does $62,972 sound for a 1994 New Holland 9680 tractor? How about $49,995 for a 1995 John Deere 1850 air drill? Or $80,000 for an older tandem axle grain truck? “You’re seeing an […] Read more
Controlled traffic farming is proving its worth, say advocates
The system ‘shines’ during droughts and lets farmers seed and harvest sooner when it’s wet, they say
Reading Time: 4 minutes Controlled traffic farming has yet to catch on in a big way in Alberta, but it proved its worth during last year’s drought for a long-time practitioner. “I grew canola and barley last year and we had 28-bushel canola on four and a half inches of rain and five weeks of smoking hot weather,” said […] Read more
Calibrate the combine to boost profits
An hour or two spent properly calibrating your machine could be the most lucrative time you spend this harvest
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers will spare no expense when it comes to tending their crops and maximizing production. So why do they spit so many of their profits out the back end of their combines at harvest? It’s a mystery to North Battleford farmer and inventor Trevor Scherman, one of the speakers at the recent Ag in Motion […] Read more
FROM TOY TO TOOL: The sky’s the limit for farming drones
There’s better software and powerful zooms, and both spraying and seeding are advancing quickly too
Reading Time: 6 minutes From flashy toy to just another tool in the tool box — for many farmers, drones have simply become an everyday part of the work they do. “It’s not as novel as it was a few years ago,” said Markus Weber, president of LandView Drones. “For a lot of people when they buy a drone, […] Read more
The buyers are willing but the equipment supply chain is weak
Farm equipment sales jump but availability of new machines and parts for older ones remain an issue
Reading Time: 4 minutes Driven by high commodity prices and low interest rates, sales of farm equipment shot up last year — but getting delivery was a huge headache for many. Sales of four-wheel-drive tractors in Canada rose 33 per cent, 100+ horsepower tractors were up 34 per cent, and combines were up 23 per cent, according to data […] Read more
College aims to tame the data beast running amok on today’s farms
Data can take farms to an entirely new level — but only if it doesn’t overwhelm you first
Reading Time: 4 minutes It seems like every part of your average farm is generating data these days — but your average farmers still don’t know what to do with it all. “The more data we have, the harder it is to figure out what to do with it,” said Simon Knutson, agriculture technology faculty instructor at Olds College. […] Read more
Deere predicts driverless equipment heralds a new future
Farm equipment giant will sell a few autonomous tractors this year and then begin scaling up
Reading Time: 3 minutes Only a handful of its new autonomous tractors will hit fields this year, but John Deere is portraying the self-driving machines as the future of farming. Feeding a growing population and dealing with labour shortages are two key reasons — but farmers themselves may be an even bigger factor in propelling the adoption of autonomous […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
