AI uses in agriculture are a cause for optimism among farmers.

AI can be an agricultural solution

The technology can help farmers tackle the challenges of modern farming

Reading Time: 3 minutes Iowa State University – For all the attention on flashy new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, the challenges of regulating AI and doomsday scenarios involving super-intelligent machines, AI is a useful tool in many fields. In fact, it has enormous potential to benefit humanity. In agriculture, farmers are increasingly using AI-powered tools to tackle challenges […] Read more

A DOT (now OmniPower) autonomous unit at work on the Olds College Smart Farm. (Olds College video screengrab via YouTube)

Smart farm competition encourages farmers to adopt technology

Competition will serve as opportunity to create and develop smart farm networks

The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) is seeking applications for a competition geared toward creating or developing new smart farm networks. Funding under this initiative will support collaborative on-farm tech innovations in hopes encouraging farmers to adopt emergent agriculture technology. CAAIN receives funding from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to address challenges […] Read more



Darren Wolchyn (at right), founder and CEO of Smart Paddock, receives the Innovation Award from Kevin Chung, director of innovation investments and programs at Innovation Saskatchewan, at the Canadian Animal Ag Tech Awards. (Lisa Guenther photo)

At Agribition: Livestock tech companies earn new spotlight

Canadian Animal Ag Tech Awards presented

Three companies were crowned winners at the first annual Canadian Animal Ag Tech Awards on Thursday during Canadian Western Agribition in Regina. The event spotlighted companies creating technology for the livestock industry, with products ranging from water sensors to artificial intelligence-powered monitoring systems. Australia’s Smart Paddock received the Innovation Award. The company’s GPS ear tags […] Read more


Cattle fitted with NoFence virtual fencing technology.

The arrival of virtual fencing?

Alberta researchers explore how well the technology withstands harsh Prairie winters

Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – An Alberta livestock researcher wants to see if virtual fencing lives up to its promises once winter hits the Prairies. “If you have a technology that can’t work in -40 or -45, it has no place in Alberta,” said Lakeland College’s Obioha Durunna. Virtual fencing could fundamentally change the labour and infrastructure […] Read more

The constant input of farmers has been key to the program, which recently finished its third cohort of attendees.

Training fills the gaps between agriculture and technology

Program aims to match tech specialists with farmers and industry employers

Reading Time: 4 minutes Say there’s trouble with the automated GIS and mapping features on the tractor, but you can’t find a tech with enough knowledge to offer help. It’s a simple example of the kind of employment gaps that keep farmers up at night, and that prevent their adoption of new technology, said the manager of an “upskilling” […] Read more


People visit crop plots at Discovery Farm Woodstock during Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. Photo: Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show

Discovery Farm Woodstock joins Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network

The research site joins its Saskatchewan counterpart on the initiative’s roster

Glacier FarmMedia’s eastern Discovery Farm has joined the locations that share data and research through Old’s College’s Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network. The 330-acre Ontario site is the host of various demonstration research projects and Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. It was established as the permanent home for the show in 2020. “The objective is to provide […] Read more

Tiffany Wood, a Scottish physicist is CEO of Dyneval, a company with new semen analyzing technology.  Photo: John Greig

At Ag in Motion: New tester monitors bull fertility

Glacier FarmMedia – Slow-swimming bull sperm will have no place to hide. A Scottish company, Dyneval, has created a new semen analyzer that measures a wider range of concentrations of semen than previous testing methods. This will allow veterinarians, beef and dairy producers to have more control over semen quality. The Dynescanl analyzer is also […] Read more


Regan Ferguson tells of her experience using data on the farm near Melfort at Ag In Motion. (Jeff Melchior photo)

At Ag in Motion: Find a purpose, then buy tech, Prairie grower says

No matter how cutting-edge, digital ag needs to be a fit on your farm

Investing in digital agriculture can be a daunting experience. A producer’s best bet, one northeastern Saskatchewan farmer says, is to do your homework and find a purpose for it on your farm. “You have got to have the root purpose of why you got that technology. Either that or you talk to others to help […] Read more

Cutting the herbicide bill with a green-on-green system, whether from the Agrifac AiC Plus or one of its competitors, is just part of the equation. Even bigger might be using the cameras on the boom for super high-resolution field mapping, which sprayer expert Tom Wolf (inset) calls “incredibly exciting.

Could the next green revolution already be underway here?

Green-on-green spraying isn’t officially available here yet but it’s close

Reading Time: 5 minutes It wasn’t long ago that sprayers able to distinguish weeds in a growing crop were in the ‘maybe someday’ file. But that has changed, and a new green revolution may already be underway. Some Prairie farmers have bought and are using green-on-green sprayers, even though the company involved is still adapting the software to Canadian […] Read more