Reading Time: 2 minutes PAMI has been one of the go-to sources for technical and mechanical research pertaining to agriculture on the Prairies for decades.
PAMI sees funding boost
Organization slated for $5 million in government funds
PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location
Revenue challenges in recent years blamed for Manitoba site's closure
The product development, testing and design firm Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), will be closing its Portage la Prairie, Man. location at the end of July. Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to […] Read more
Sectional control minimizes, but doesn’t eliminate overlap
The theoretical savings are great but overlap still happens, and size of both seed and sections matters
Reading Time: 4 minutes Unless you farm some magical piece of land where there are no stone piles, hills, water bodies or other obstacles to get around, you will always have some overlap. That extra seed or fertilizer can cost you big bucks over time — which is why stories about sectional control technology often focus on the potential […] Read more
Don’t get trapped — bring a buddy when unloading grain from bins
Most people trapped in grain don’t survive, but a few simple steps can greatly reduce the danger
Reading Time: 4 minutes Of all the dangers involved in unloading grain bins, grain entrapment is indisputably one of the most perilous. A routine entry into a bin to shovel some resistant grain can become deadly in a matter of seconds if the auger — and thus the flow rate — stays active. “One of the main things we […] Read more
Dry grain while the sun shines — harnessing solar power for drying grain
Robert Baerg has gained some peace of mind with novel grain dryer
Reading Time: 6 minutes Robert Baerg was having coffee with a neighbour one rainy harvest about 15 years ago when they got to talking about their old grain dryer. It was a real headache, that dryer — chewing through horsepower to dry tough grain far too slowly, and then they still had to cool it. It took both neighbours […] Read more
Study aims to get a grip on pricey grain drying costs
Tens of millions are spent on grain conditioning in wet years but data on how to trim that cost is lacking
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta farmers learned the hard way last fall that wet harvests go hand in hand with grain drying — and the costs that come with that. But Alberta’s main crop commissions are looking for ways to trim those costs as harvests trend later and the need to condition grain goes up. “There has been an […] Read more
A new age of ag education is underway, says Olds College research director
Joy Agnew says ‘digital ag’ is revolutionizing how students are being trained in agriculture
Reading Time: 3 minutes Joy Agnew says her first few days at her new job were totally overwhelming — in a good way. After a nearly 10-year stint at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, Agnew began her new job as director of applied research at Olds College in early January and hit the ground running. “The shift to digital […] Read more
Drying grain may become the norm as harvests trend later
Natural air drying with supplemental heat hasn’t caught on in Alberta yet, but it soon could
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta farmers may need to get used to leaving grain in the field at harvest. “Harvest might be starting earlier, but poor weather during the harvest season is slowing down that last little bit of harvest, and there’s more and more crop being left in the field in October,” said Joy Agnew, program manager at […] Read more
Threshing losses could be costing you tens of thousands this harvest
Canola losses when combining are typically double — and sometimes five times — what they should be
Reading Time: 4 minutes How many tens — or hundreds — of millions of dollars might pour out of the backs of Prairie combines this harvest? No one can say for sure, but Vegreville producer Darcy Sarafinchan knows that if he’s not checking for issues when combining canola, the number can get big in a hurry. “When you start […] Read more
Getting the story straight on straight cutting canola
Pod shatter-tolerant varieties are making straight cutting a more viable option for Alberta canola growers — but it’s not a ‘silver bullet’
Reading Time: 4 minutes One of Canada’s largest seed suppliers is predicting 40 per cent of Prairie canola will be straight cut by 2020. “Last year, only around 11 per cent of acres were straight cut, and we’re saying that in the next four to five years, that’s going to increase by fourfold,” said James Humphris, canola seed and […] Read more
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