Reading Time: 3 minutes Soil nutrient sensor technology offers to save producers time and money, but do those promises measure up? The answer so far is a tentative yes, say researchers at Olds College. “It’s showing quite a bit of promise,” said Abby Sim, a research technician at the college. “A lot of them seem like they will be […] Read more
Soil sensor tech nears tipping point
New MacDonald’s farm will need robots and other tech
Reading Time: < 1 minute Calgary high school students will get a chance to learn about agriculture – but not the Old MacDonald stereotype. “We are looking for students who are interested in robotics, technology, business and problem solving,” said Jay Steeves, dean of the Werklund School of Agriculture Technology at Olds College, which is partnering with the Calgary Board […] Read more
Small islands could deliver a big payoff in feedlot holding ponds
Native, riparian plants can filter out organic matter, nutrients and heavy metals
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta researchers are using the power of native plants to turn manure-fouled water into something so clean it could perhaps be used to water crops or livestock. “We’re using plants to clean water of contaminants. In this case, we’re using them to clean contaminants that exist in feedlot holding ponds,” said principal investigator Daniel Karran, […] Read more
Olds College offers digital ag degree program
Reading Time: < 1 minute Starting next fall, Olds College will offer a Bachelor of Digital Agriculture degree through a program created in collaboration with industry. “Students will engage in real-world problems and explore solutions using digital agriculture technologies and practices,” the college said in a release. “Graduates will be prepared to lead disruptive change in agriculture with a grounding […] Read more
Virtual fence systems could be the next breakthrough in ranching
Though this technology is taking off in Europe and being studied here, it’s still early days
Reading Time: 4 minutes Research on virtual fences for livestock is gaining momentum in Western Canada. One technology being studied uses collars on animals that emit a series of audio warnings and, if need be, an electric pulse, when livestock approach an invisible boundary set with GPS coordinates. “The animals are actually able to get trained with the collars […] Read more
Olds researchers aim for better brew of malting barley varieties
Breeders aim for a package that keeps both the farmers and the customers happy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Plant breeders have many challenges, but malting barley breeders have an extra one. Customers sometimes like their varieties so much that they’re reluctant to change to ones that are better for farmers. “We are looking at things that are not only going to be good in production and give farmers higher yields and ultimately more […] Read more
AFSC and Olds College form partnership
Drone assessment of hail damage is among the research projects
Reading Time: < 1 minute Olds College and Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) have created a formal partnership in which AFSC will support applied research on the Olds College Smart Farm. In 2021 the Olds College research team worked on a proof of concept with AFSC to see if drone imagery in hail-damaged fields could assist assessment, with promising initial […] Read more
Young Alberta farmer soars into the future of agriculture
Reading Time: 4 minutes A high-flying young Alberta farmer has taken a significant step into the future of agriculture by using a robot to sow part of his canola crop. Wade McAllister used an OMNiPOWER autonomous platform to seed a small part of his family’s 3,500-acre farm near Innisfail this spring — although he was present at the same […] Read more
Soil sensing goes radioactive with gamma ray spectrometry
A geiger counter for your fields is one of the latest innovations for mapping soil
Reading Time: 4 minutes Scanning your field with what is essentially a geiger counter may seem like a strange way to find out which areas might yield the most, but it works pretty well, says a digital ag expert. “In combination with soil sampling, gamma ray measurement can be used for soil modelling, creation of site-specific nutrient maps and […] Read more
Partnership gives Prairie ag students new 800-acre opportunity
Saskatchewan farmland bequest expanded Smart Farm eastward
Students from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and Olds College will be getting more opportunities to collaborate with each other on a large scale. The two institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which entails both schools working together for five years on various programs, notably Olds College’s Smart Farm operation. The partnership comes as a result […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
