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
AFSC and Olds College form partnership
Drone assessment of hail damage is among the research projects
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
Environmental measures to be studied
Reading Time: < 1 minute Old College’s Smart Farm has been given a $440,000 federal grant for research on livestock production — specifically to “test products and technologies for improving environmental sustainability and climate change resiliency in Western Canada.” The money will be used by the college’s Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production, specifically a 308-acre site at Pitstra Farm […] Read more
Tech savvy urban kids wanted
Reading Time: < 1 minute A $100,000 donation from “serial ag entrepreneur” Robert Saik will be used to create two new scholarships at Olds College. Beginning in 2023, two students from urban locations enrolled in the college’s Agriculture Technology programs will receive $2,500 scholarships. Saik, CEO of AGvisorPRO, said he strongly supports the college’s efforts to train students in advanced […] Read more
Olds College, USask working together on ag-tech research
Reading Time: < 1 minute Olds College is partnering up with the University of Saskatchewan on agricultural technology research. The two schools recently signed a five-year memorandum of understanding “to collaborate in joint activities related to automation and increased incorporation of digital data in agriculture.” That will include a working relationship between Olds College’s Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production […] Read more
Layering on digital data
Reading Time: < 1 minute Olds College Smart Farm has received a $300,000 donation from BASF Digital Farming for HyperLayer data concept. This process collects and analyzes several layers of data from across the Smart Farm’s 2,800 acres. “It centres around compiling topographical data, detailed soil nutrient and moisture mapping, multi-spectral and hyper-spectral imagery, yield data, and other layers of […] Read more
Putting Mother Nature’s water filter to the test
It’s called phytoremediation and using native species as filters could be big for the feedlot sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes Walking through the wetlands at Olds College is an education unto itself: Native plants and trees line every path that loops around 20 constructed ponds where waterfowl swim and songbirds flit from cattail to cattail. But the wetlands are also home to something equally important — wetland research. “Managing resources like water is critical,” said […] Read more
College farms, GFM Discovery Farm to get smarter together
Two Alberta colleges sign on for new CAAIN-backed network
A pair of Alberta college farms and Glacier FarmMedia’s Saskatchewan farm are the first to plug into a national network of “smart farms” to improve the ag sector’s smart technology experience. The Olds College Smart Farm will lead the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network, which will also include Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm at Langham, Sask. and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
