Both students and staff at Northwestern Polytechnic in Fairview are praising the Tenstar Simulator for its capacity to safely build students’ operational skills with expensive ag machinery and better prepare them for real-life field scenarios.

“When you go onto a farm, your employer or your dad are not going to be confident putting you in cold on the brand new piece of equipment,” says Shaela Lee, the agriculture program coordinator with the school, which bills itself as the largest post-secondary institution in northern Alberta.

“We would rather you come here, get hands-on in a simulated environment, crash this thing, refine your skills and then you’re a little bit more familiar with the equipment before you get into the huge equipment that can be daunting and costs lots and lots of money.”

The simulator — which was purchased in January — is intended for students in the polytechnic’s recently-established two-year agriculture operations diploma program.

Because the program caters to students with a wide range of ag backgrounds, some have had more experience with tractors and combines than others, says Lee. However, the platform has challenged even those with extensive real-life experience.

“This year, many of the students who were going onto the simulator were quite confident,” she says.

“During the exercises, they got stuck. So they were humbled a little bit … Some of our students have come from grain farms, so they haven’t operated a baler or anything like that.

“Each student learned a little something from the experience, regardless of their starting point.”

Even though student Karson Wasylciw has been helping run combines with his grandfather since he was seven, he still sees the simulator’s value for both himself and other students in the program.

“I know for myself, when I get in someone else’s piece of equipment, the first worry is always not messing up and making sure that everything runs smoothly once I’m done with it,” says Wasylciw, who’s working towards taking over his grandparents’ portion of the family farm.

“So being able to get the practice time in and getting fairly comfortable with it before actually jumping onto a $100,000 piece of equipment is quite beneficial.”

Although it obviously does not offer the exact sensation one would get from running a real-life piece of equipment, Wasylciw says it’s pretty close.

“It is so similar that I think you can get fairly confident on there and be able to get in a different piece of farm equipment and have no issues running it.”

Weather adjustable

Lee says the Tenstar is a good fit for the program, which was designed for the winter months to give students a chance to take part in fall harvesting and return for spring seeding. The simulator also removes the risks of firing up a real-life tractor in freezing winter conditions.

A few of the 50 tractor-related exercises Tenstar can replicate include baling, tillage and spreading fertilizer. It supports basically “anything you can pull behind a tractor,” says Kristy Honing, chairperson of animal health technology at the polytechnic.

“There’s a screen on the back too so that when you turn around, you can look at what’s behind you. No kidding — if there’s a rock that you’re going over, the seat will move as well.”

The combine component is a little different, says Lee. Although it doesn’t have as many options as the tractor sim, users have the ability to adjust for various weather and environmental conditions.

“During harvest, the weather changes constantly. From dusk to dawn the weather can shift. So you’re able to adjust the simulator to test the students and give them different scenarios.”

Wide-ranging applications

Manufactured by the Swedish-based Tenstar Simulation company, the simulator is a self-contained unit compatible with a host of simulation software.

Although it comes with a choice of configurations, the machine purchased by Northwestern Polytechnic looks similar — and to an extent functions in a similar way to — an updated version of the sit-down arcade racing games from the 1980s and ‘90s.

Its applications are not limited to agriculture. According to the company website, the Tenstar is also marketed to schools and companies that train in the construction, transportation, traffic and forestry industries.

“There was a week where some of the health students came and were driving ambulances on it,” says Wasylciw.

“There’s are quite a few different pieces of machinery that you can get on there. We just have the tractor and combine for ourselves, but it looked like you could go right down to cranes and excavators and stuff.”

Tenstar Simulators are interoperable with other machines under its platform, making options potentially unlimited minus budgetary considerations.

“If there were two simulators, you could sync them together so one could be on the combine portion and one could be on the tractor,” says Lee.

The post Agriculture students learn farm machinery operation risk-free with tech appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Due to a significant reduction in international student enrolment and a decline in operational grant funding from the Alberta government, Olds College is suspending intake into three program areas for the fall 2025 term:

• Agriculture technology integration (post-diploma certificate)

• Craft beverage and brewery operations (diploma)

• Hospitality and tourism management (certificate, diploma, post-diploma certificate)

As well, intake into the business management diploma three-day cohort on campus and the business management diploma at Concordia University College (Edmonton) are also suspended.

“Olds College remains committed to providing high-quality education, experiences and support to our students,” Debbie Thompson, Olds College interim president, said in a news release Feb. 27.

“In order to navigate the growing demands and complex issues in the post-secondary system, we’ve been reviewing our program mix to ensure we align with industry needs, student demand and institutional priorities to ensure long-term stability for Olds College. The educational journey and success of our students remain our top priority.”

Olds College will continue with second-year courses for the affected programs for current students as they complete their studies.

IRCC announced in January 2024, that a cap would be set on international student permit applications for the next two years. In 2024, that cap was set at approximately 360,000 approved study permits, which was a decrease of 35 per cent from the previous year.

However, in reality that number ended up being around 280,000 approved permits. Only 91,000 of those were approved for new students in post-secondary institutions.

In January 2025, IRCC announced it expects a 10 per cent decrease in permit approvals from the previous year.

The post Olds College suspends Fall 2025 intake for multiple programs appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

And today, college students in Canada can earn an agricultural technology degree or diploma. What an opportunity for young men and women who want to grow food!

I recently participated in the Global Agriculture Technology Summit on the panel for Women in Ag Tech. In preparation, I considered how we as farmers have adopted technology in the past 40 years, which is the amount of time that I spent in the beef industry.

To put it simply — we’ve come a long way.

When I first started selling fed cattle, the beef was sold as sides and transported by rail to Montreal for breaking and distribution. Today, the entire carcass is cut and shelf ready for retail from the point of slaughter.

It took more than just a few tweaks to make that happen.

Packing plants had to implement systems that include pneumatics, robotics, sensors along with full digital measurement of performance, environment, accuracy, quality and inventory leading to precision in beef slaughter, value add and distribution. Traceability gives the beef industry traction to assure buyers and consumers of the legitimacy of product.

• More with Brenda Schoepp: Technology can be used to create new opportunities in Canadian agriculture

On the farm we went from pen and paper to software programs and technology that can digitally measure every event in the calf’s life from birth to plate. Programs can now tell us what an animal is worth based on its history, genomics and health profile. Intake and behaviour can be monitored and measured and based on that information — the projected time of sale can be predetermined. These auditable platforms have allowed for specialized initiatives such as sales into consumer-specific markets.

We also experienced the revolution of grazing that transformed pastures from continuous to rotational through to regenerative systems that focus not only on the plant, but also the soil. We implemented the use of solar systems for water, electric fences for containment, and HF-RFID and satellite identification systems. Today, in many operations, each piece of equipment, such as the chute, is a reader or sensor feeding into the main database.

Being a First World country, farmers and ranchers in Canada can enjoy the full implementation of technology. Most places have internet, the power is usually on and we don’t have an issue with refrigeration.

It is important to remember however, that if we take a look through a global lens, ag tech means different things to other farmers. They may be limited by culture, region, class, caste, gender, income or industry.

For example, a farmer in rural Asia will have to deal with the lack of refrigeration and unreliable transportation systems. Despite having a cellphone and market data, the infrastructure is simply not there to support their needs. Milk, eggs, meat and poultry sit in the sun and while that is the cultural norm, it is hard to implement technological advances in production when the final product is victim to something as simple as a lack of refrigeration.

In other First World countries, industries compete and excel in the ag tech space.

While the global beef industry still struggles to identify each cut to the end-user, the kiwi sector in New Zealand uses an electronic system from start to shelf which sorts, sells and traces back to the field.

It is important as we go into the advancement of agricultural technology that we also fully appreciate that our use of it may not be transferable, be that in production or processing. It is difficult to ‘keep the lights on’ in a processing plant in a region where power failures are the norm.

As leaders in ag tech, we are compelled to take a global view and to be grounded enough to ask what other farmers need. Yes, we can lead from here and be outstanding in our field, but the next farmer’s field will differ and we must ask ourselves how what we do will be of benefit to all.

Technology is like medicine: It should be shared, affordable, adaptable and measurable.

It takes special leadership to scale ag tech in a way that shares economic prosperity. Will more inputs delivered by an autonomous machine work on land that has been farmed for 9,000 years? Not likely — that would require a complementary regenerative action. Though modern-day technology in Canadian agriculture is second skin to you and me, it may be only partially adoptable, applicable and affordable by the farmer a few borders away.

Whatever our role in the future of ag tech — be that innovator, incubator, adaptor or end-user — the challenge is in embracing and executing the belief that technology is for the betterment of all of mankind.

Canadians are leaders in ag tech and our new generation will expertly take us where we need to go.

Let us collaborate with others around the world by being culturally attuned, asking what is needed and use agricultural technology to transcend borders, ensuring that we create an ecology of food for all.

The post Schoepp: Ag technology is a marvel but one that should be shared worldwide appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s continuing to show the importance of technology, and adopting technology, on the farm,” said Remi Schmaltz, CEO and co-founder of Decisive Farming, an Alberta digital ag and farm management company.

“We need to continue to take a very proactive stance on how we’re adopting and supporting technology in the market. These aren’t nice-to-haves — these are table stakes to a successful industry.”

Investment in smart ag technology that allows farmers to produce more with less land, labour, and inputs has ramped up over the past five years, but much more is needed, said Schmaltz.

“There’s a real focus around food supply chains,” he said. “There’s a lot of discussion occurring due to COVID-19 around that, and the ability to track food production and provide transparency of the supply chain is going to become more important than ever before.”

But the pandemic has also highlighted the need to diversify Alberta’s economy, he added.

“There’s a huge opportunity here for agriculture to play a fundamental role in diversifying our economy. I really think it’s the low-hanging fruit in the province.”

An ongoing labour shortage is another issue that’s been highlighted by the pandemic, said Joy Agnew, associate vice-president of applied research at Olds College.

“A lot of technology development is about dealing with labour shortages, and labour availability for farming is a hugely uncertain thing right now,” said Agnew.

Olds College has recently acquired the self-driving DOT Power Platform, which can be equipped with implements such as a seeder or sprayer.

That type of equipment has obvious labour-saving advantages as does robotics in food-processing plants, said Cornelia Kreplin, executive director of smart agriculture and food innovation at Alberta Innovates.

Both technologies require the capture and processing of lots of data, and the pandemic has shown that’s equally true in ag and food supply chains, she said.

“There’s an increasing awareness of the importance of technology. It’s vital to control disease outbreaks, especially in pandemics, and agriculture has learned this along the way,” said Kreplin. “The better our data systems are, the more quickly we can put appropriate measures in place.”

Investing for the future

But funding for new technology is hard to come by — that was true before the pandemic and is only worse now, said Schmaltz.

“The ‘death valley’ of ag tech in Canada is really financing,” said Schmaltz. “Access to capital right now is probably worse than it was previously. Investors aren’t ramping up in general — they’re focused on supporting their existing portfolios.”

And Alberta lags other provinces on that score.

“If we look at technology in general — not just specifically in agriculture — I’d say Alberta is behind,” said Schmaltz. “I don’t even mean government funding-wise — just as a whole. If we talk venture investments or angel investments or government investments in technology, Alberta is behind a lot of other provinces in Canada. We absolutely need to up our game.”

However, he predicted, many “good tech companies” will likely go under because they won’t be able to find the capital needed to keep operating.

Farmers, too, will be reluctant to spend money on smart ag technology, said Agnew.

“If there is an economic need and a farmer is going to make money by adopting a new technology, then yes, there’s going to be a lot of innovation and a lot of technology adoption,” she said.

“But with the uncertainty in the economy and in markets, I don’t know for sure what it’s going to look like after this.”

Even those who can afford it will likely hold off awhile, said Kreplin, adding Alberta Innovates is working to develop a network of smart farms across the province to trial emerging technologies.

“Industry adoption depends on the perception of the return on investment,” she said.

“Agribusinesses might see the benefit and have the resources to adopt these new technologies, but these early adopters need to see the return on investment. It isn’t easy to change from traditional production to trusting this new world of big data or automation.”

Staying competitive

But waiting comes with a cost, too.

“Without the constant development and adoption of new technologies, we’ll see Canada become less competitive in the global marketplace,” said Kreplin.

Schmaltz agrees.

“If we see a lack of tech companies and new technology coming, that’s going to affect our ability to be competitive globally in agriculture,” he said.

Governments should look to ag as they seek to rebuild the economy, said Schmaltz.

“Certainly, the government plays a role in that to help foster some of these things. We’ll see what role it plays, but for sure, it needs to be more active.”

Government and the private sector should partner in this effort, said Kreplin.

“In my perfect world, all sorts of funding would rain down on agriculture, but if we have joint investment from the private sector and government, we’ll see a better outcome at the end of the day,” she said.

The can-do spirit that has been demonstrated during the pandemic needs to be harnessed to seize on opportunities such as investment in ag technology, said Agnew.

“Six weeks ago, if you had told me that we would shift an entire college to online learning and have 80 per cent of the workforce working from home, I would have said you were nuts,” she said in an interview last month.

“But that type of thing has been achieved over and over and over again around the world.

“If we’ve learned one thing from the pandemic, it’s that when everyone turns themselves toward a common goal, we can achieve almost anything.”

The post Will we seize the day when it comes to smart ag technology? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In some cases, however, the future is now while in others it’s coming quickly — it all depends on the type of sensor tech you’re interested in.

Well-known spraying expert Tom Wolf separates precision spot-spraying tech into two categories: ‘green on brown’ and ‘green on green.’

Green-on-brown sensors such as the WEED-IT have been available in Canada for some time and can be used for pre-seed burn-off. Green-on-green sensors which consistently differentiate between crops and weeds are still a little ways away — but not by much, said Wolf.

“I think there is certainly work being done judging by my discussions with some of these (green-on-green) companies,” he said. “They would say the first 80 per cent (accuracy) was a lot easier than the last 20, so they are refining and working on it and it’s just an ongoing process.

“I’m going to quote Yogi Berra: it’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”

A weed-targeting sprayer has two obvious advantages — saving money on herbicide and using less herbicide reduces environmental impacts (such as spray drift floating into water bodies and other at-risk areas).

But from an agronomic point of view, the biggest advantage is delaying the onset of herbicide resistance.

Right now, one of the most powerful tools in the fight against herbicide resistance is mixing multiple effective modes of action in the spray tank. But that’s expensive, said Wolf.

“Almost all acres in Saskatchewan and Alberta are sprayed before seeding for a clean seedbed,” he said. “We broadcast treat them with glyphosate plus one or two tank mix partners for resistance management. We could save somewhere between 60 to 80 per cent of that cost by spot spraying them.

“Site-specific technologies like spot spraying make resistance management affordable. I view these technologies as important tools for the preservation of our herbicide capabilities.”

How green on brown works

Put simply, this technology uses ultraviolet light to tell the sensor ‘this plant is green’ and turn on the spray nozzle. That’s not useful for in-crop spraying, but can save big bucks during pre-seed burn-off.

“Users are reporting between 95 and 97 per cent accuracy,” said Wolf.

Although this technology is not new (the WEED-IT, for example, was first released commercially in the Netherlands in 1999), it continues to be researched for its suitability in Western Canada. An upcoming two-year research project by Olds College’s Centre for Innovation will evaluate the latest version of WEED-IT — the Quadro — under Prairie conditions.

The replicated strip trial will collect data from pre-seed herbicide applications on Olds College land in the 2020 and 2021 growing seasons. The scope of the project may be expanded to include post-harvest application and another site (at Lakeland College) pending approval of additional research funds.

“We are specifically looking at the effectiveness of the spot-spraying technology for controlling weeds,” said Joy Agnew, the centre’s director of applied research. “We’re looking at the effect of stubble types, travel velocity and spray settings on spray effectiveness.”

What makes this project different, said Agnew, is that it will help fill in gaps in the existing research on a season-long basis.

“There’s some great information from some of the early adopters about how much chemical use reduction is happening with spot-spray technology. However, no one has been following that through the growing season to see how effective the weed control really is and if there is an effect on yield down the road.

“We are going to map that all the way through to get a true value assessment of the technology’s return on investment,” she said.

Wolf is excited about the potential of the Quadro.

“The sensor has improved. It has a blue light which is more energy efficient and more sensitive. That should facilitate better detection accuracy and maybe even better travel speeds.”

The second aspect which Wolf describes as “very significant” is the Quadro’s addition of a complete pulse width modulation (PWM) capable boom. A PWM system adjusts flow to nozzles individually via pulsing solenoids located at each nozzle.

“The PWM boom is valuable in its own right,” he said. “When you are done sensing in the early spring then you simply use the same boom but turn the sensors off. They’ve merged those two technologies together, which is a significant step.”

Green on green still needs work

The computer algorithms which power green-on-green weed recognition are essentially the same ones which enable facial recognition on your smartphone. And while they’re getting better at recognizing weeds, the technology isn’t quite there yet, said Wolf, adding some European sensors have achieved a good — but not great — accuracy rate of 80 per cent.

“Everyone is being very cautious and the reason is because there has been a high bar set by the performance of herbicides,” he said. “When a producer sprays herbicide for weed control they have come to expect better than 95 per cent results. We can’t afford for anything to escape the herbicide pass.

“If these sensing technologies cannot meet that standard, their commercial success is placed in question. If you are only 80 per cent accurate do you have a product that has any chance of success in the marketplace? Right now I would say the answer is no.”

However, research and innovation in the green-on-green space continues to advance.

Europe is a hotbed for this technology because EU regulations limiting herbicide use for crop production are driving innovation, said Wolf. He got a peek into what European companies are doing at last year’s Agritechnica — the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural technology — in Hanover, Germany.

One such innovation has seen developers flip what the sensors are intended to recognize.

“Some companies have come to realize that identifying every single weed by species is probably a pretty big ask and so they have done something that is the reverse of that,” said Wolf. “They’ve decided to start looking at row crops like corn and have the sensors say, ‘Hey, this is corn and we are 100 per cent sure that it’s corn.’

“If the sensor sees corn it says, ‘That’s safe.’ If it sees something that isn’t corn it says that’s got to be ‘not corn’ therefore it’s probably a weed so it will spray that.

“That approach is what the Xarvio Smart Sprayer will be launched with. It will then eventually, incrementally grow into the kind of row spacings and canopies that can be more difficult.”

Wolf thinks the Xarvio sprayer may become the first green-on-green sprayer tech to be available in Canada, although it may have limited utility in Alberta.

“It’s initially going to be a row-crop unit; not so much a Saskatchewan/Alberta product but rather an Eastern Canada, Manitoba and U.S. Corn Belt product.”

Is it worth it?

For most farmers, the biggest question is: How much is it going to cost me and will I save enough on herbicide costs to justify it?

That’s a tough question when it comes to green-on-green tech; however, green on brown is a different story.

According to WEED-IT retailer Croplands Equipment, a 120-foot WEED-IT system will run you about $182,000, not including labour and installation materials. The company claims a producer spraying 8,000 acres per year would recoup that investment in a little over 2-1/2 years.

“That’s a tremendously fast ROI (return on investment),” said Wolf. “That’s driven, of course, by how much you would use it.”

Producers looking to buy a WEED-IT Quadro may be able to get funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change program. The program is offering up to 30 per cent for a new sprayer or 50 per cent for retrofit of existing sprayers featuring PWM nozzles up to a maximum of $10,000. (For more info, go to www.cap.alberta.ca and click on Programs and then Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change — Producer.)

The post Ready for prime time? Spot-spraying tech advancing quickly appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The online 42-question survey commissioned by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada didn’t get a big response — 261 producers participated — but it offers a glimpse into how farmers view the highly touted technology.

The poll found adoption of two key technologies is nearly universal, with 98 per cent of respondents saying they use GPS guidance on their farm (although only 79 per cent have auto steer) and 83 per cent having yield monitoring on their combines.

And while three-quarters said they “intend to use more precision agriculture in the future,” fewer than half were heavily into more advanced applications. (The survey asked about practices employed during the 2016 growing season.)

For example, only 30 per cent said they’ve looked at near infrared (NIR) and Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) images of their fields. Just under half (47 per cent) had looked at images captured by satellite or drones.

But nearly half said they used prescription maps and/or variable-rate technology to apply “variable rates or unique rates” when fertilizing or seeding last year (with just under a quarter using one or both when spraying).

The survey also asked about use of farm management software and apps; automatic sectional control; soil sampling; bin sensors; data storage; and other technologies. It concluded “the adoption of (precision agriculture) tools and technologies in Western Canada is strong.”

“Many of the sensors to monitor weather and crops are now in place and the tools to measure the soils, water, vegetation and yields are fully understood,” the survey report stated.

“Each year, more of the farm equipment fleet is capable of capturing data and the systems become more user friendly and reliable for technicians and precision agronomists to process the data into actionable outcomes for the farmer.”

The main goal of the survey is contained in its name: Analysis of Precision Agriculture — Adoption & Barriers in Western Canada. The top barriers it found were: cost, inadequate Internet and/or cell coverage, a lack of knowledgeable people, the fact the technology is continuously evolving, and having older farm equipment.

The survey’s author also warned that the findings are limited — not only because the number of respondents was low, but “the survey length may have resulted in inherent bias favouring respondents with a general interest or knowledge” of precision ag.

Indeed, more than half of the people who took the survey were in the 35- to 44-year-old age group or younger. The average age of farmers is 54 years old.

The biggest response (46 per cent) came from Alberta and nearly two-thirds of respondents said they cropped in excess of 2,200 acres. To see the complete survey, go to www.albertafarmexpress.ca “Precision Ag Survey 2017”.

The post Most Prairie farmers taking a wait-and-see attitude to precision ag appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Monsanto will join a Brazilian investment fund with up to 300 million reais (C$118 million), managed by Microsoft, evaluating ideas for new digital tools to be applied to agricultural production in the country, executives said.

Selected ideas will receive initial funding of up to 1.5 million reais (about C$591,000) for early development. Project owners will have the option to pay back the investment after three years or convert the money into equity.

“We want to foster new startups in the agricultural sector. There is a vast area for research and development,” Rodrigo Santos, head of Monsanto in Latin America, told reporters on the sidelines of the Global Agribusiness Forum (GAF 2016).

Technology company Qualcomm is also investing in the fund.

— Reporting for Reuters by Marcelo Teixeira.

The post Monsanto, Microsoft to invest in ag technology in Brazil appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Producers must lead the line in the battle to convince consumers that GM crops, pesticides, and other ag technologies are good things, FarmTech attendees were told.

“We in the ag sector have made a big mistake in not getting in front of this,” said Julie Borlaug, associate director of external relations for the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

“We thought scientists could do the talking for us and they would help push the cause forward, and unfortunately that’s not what happened.”

Even her famous grandfather Norman Borlaug — known as the father of the Green Revolution — was “awful” at defending the scientific advances that have fuelled the massive rise in food production in the last half-century, she said.

“He would get in an argument with what he called a ‘Greenie’ and it didn’t go well,” Borlaug said after her presentation.

“Typically, he would put up his hand and say, ‘I’m done with you.’ Well, we’re not winning anyone when we do that.”

It’s not just that being defensive and angry doesn’t work, it’s that so many consumers aren’t persuaded by experts in science — they’ve got their own trusted sources, said Borlaug.

• More from the Alberta Farmer: Tips on reaching out to consumers

“Remember, we’re talking to people who are far removed from agriculture,” she said. “We’re talking about moms who believe everything their 20-year-old yoga instructor tells them and everything Facebook tells them.”

But farmers are welcome participants in the conversation about topics such as genetic modification, use of chemicals, and food safety if they are open, honest, and genuine, she said.

However, they also have to be savvy and meet consumers on their own ground, which today is located on the Internet.

“You have to make your conversations personal,” she said. “We really have to ask farmers to step up and join social media and start conveying the message about what they do. We have to say that farming is not easy and it is a business, but we have to have farmers talking about the role of technology. Scientists just can’t do it — their messaging just doesn’t come across.”

When Borlaug talks to people about the efforts of the Borlaug Institute to combat hunger in impoverished countries, she focuses on how modern varieties coupled with synthetic fertilizers and farm chemicals could radically improve the lives of women, who do most of the farming.

“I ask, ‘How can you be for women without being in favour of bringing innovation and technology to developing countries?’”

She takes the same approach when talking about agriculture in North America. For example, she points to the threat of citrus greening. The bacterial disease has infested much of Florida’s citrus groves and her university is working on a genetically modified orange that could be that industry’s only hope.

“I ask moms how many give orange juice to their children every morning and then ask, ‘Are you ready not to have orange juice or are you ready to pay triple the price?’” she said. “I talk about tangible things that are important to them.”

Borlaug offered several suggestions on how farmers can reach out to consumers (see sidebar) but her main plea was not to get angry and refuse to engage.

“You have to take this ridiculousness seriously,” she said.

The post Farmers key in effort to win hearts and minds of consumers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.