Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta beekeepers will have better access to bee disease and treatment information through a new mobile app developed by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. The free app for iPhone and Android is an easy-to-use tool that will link beekeepers to pictures and current information about pests, diseases and recommended management practices. “Our province has one of […] Read more
App offers instant link to bee disease info
The free app will be enhanced to allow picture uploads, and that will boost the bee pest surveillance database
Making room for youth — and youthful thinking — in farming
Young farmers love technology and are excited by change, but they’re often penned in by the walls of tradition
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers often lament the lack of youth in agriculture. I would argue that this is not true — there are a lot more baby strollers than walkers at major agricultural conferences, especially ones where technology is highlighted. There may be fewer young farmers, but the young men and women farming today have a broader reach […] Read more
Harvest loss: An app and Top 10 tips
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here are two resources for calculating and reducing harvest loss. The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association has created a free app — SSCA Harvest Loss Calculator — for iPhones and iPads. The tool allows the user to enter the amount of seed in a sampling area of known size, either in weight, volume, or kernel number. […] Read more
Variable-rate irrigation on the rise in Alberta
Not everyone is convinced the technology is where it needs to be, but advocates say ‘interest is growing exponentially’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Southern Alberta’s irrigation system is on the cusp of going very high tech. Now that crop yield monitoring is commonplace and variable-rate crop-input technology making inroads, ag equipment companies and early adopters of advanced technology are setting their sights on micromanaging irrigation. “Variable-rate irrigation (VRI) is certainly here to stay,” said Jeff Bronsch, president of […] Read more
Irrigation investments, programs playing a big part in water conservation
A soon-to-be-published study estimates 170 million to 200 million cubic metres were saved from 1999 to 2012
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta producers and irrigation districts are making great strides toward conserving water, with both grants and individual investment producing tangible water and energy savings. Those efforts produced overall water savings of 170 million to 200 million cubic metres in Alberta’s 13 irrigation districts from 1999 to 2012, said Rod Bennett, director of Alberta Agriculture and […] Read more
Updated CropChoiCe$ available
Software tool allows users to choose from 40 different crops
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development has released the 2015 version of Cropchoice$. The software tool allows users to choose from 40 different crops and evaluate eight different scenarios. Each scenario can accommodate 32 fields. Users can either use their own costs and land rents to build their crop plan or use the AgriProfit$ costs already […] Read more
App input wanted from cattle producers
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Hereford, Simmental and Angus associations are looking at developing a mobile smartphone application for cow-calf producers integrated with Canadian breed association performance data. Integrated Traceability Solutions Global of Okotoks has been contracted to research what breeders want in a mobile app. An online survey, which takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete, can […] Read more
New pulse website takes a (web) page from Wikipedia
Alberta Pulse Growers has launched a new online manual in a familiar Wikipedia-style format to share up-to-date research and agronomic best practices
Reading Time: 3 minutes Wikipedia has replaced encyclopedias as the go-to tool for people conducting a little research — and that’s just what Alberta Pulse Growers is banking on with the launch of its pulse crop wiki. “The PulsePOD — or the pulse crop wiki, as we sometimes call it — is designed to take the place of a […] Read more
Website to shine a light on grain prices
Data updated on a daily basis for eight zones across the Prairies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Don’t know if your local elevator is offering a good price or not? There’s an app for that. Or at least there will be once www.pdqinfo.ca is fully up and running. The new website, created by the Alberta Wheat Commission with $743,000 in federal funding, aims to give farmers timely and accurate pricing data for […] Read more
The lowdown on drones
If you don’t carefully consider the costs and benefits, a drone can easily become just an ‘expensive toy’
Reading Time: 2 minutes AARD – Drones have been used by the military and by hobbyists for years, but now unmanned aerial vehicles designed to do a range of everyday jobs are finding a place in agriculture. “Drones can be used for such applications as crop scouting, livestock surveillance in remote areas, detection of algae blooms — you name […] Read more