Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s the stuff of stars, lightning bolts, and the aurora borealis — and now, Alberta researchers are finding uses for plasma a little closer to home. “There are so many applications for plasma in agriculture,” said M.S. Roopesh, assistant professor of food safety and sustainability engineering at the University of Alberta. “We have been doing a […] Read more
Using the stuff of stars to make food safer and boost germination
Cold plasma can reduce micro-organisms on seed surfaces while improving germination
Too much red tape in gene editing, says expert
That’s stifling advances and fuelling public skepticism, says American professor
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Regulations on gene editing of animals are fuelling negative public perceptions of the technology and stifling innovation in the livestock sector, according to an expert in animal genomics and biotechnology. “I predict there’s going to be a targeted activist campaign against gene editing in food production for a number of reasons,” Alison […] Read more
High speed internet is finally on its way, say governments
Broadband projects to be announced soon, work to start in spring
Reading Time: < 1 minute The province and Ottawa say the long-awaited broadband expansion for rural Alberta will see “shovels in the ground” when the construction season gets underway this spring. Ottawa is matching the province’s $150-million pledge to expand broadband in rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Alberta. The two governments have agreed to jointly “select and move forward […] 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
Schoepp: Growing food in space could spark big changes on Earth
Scientists are looking at how to grow food on Mars and their research could change the food sector here
Reading Time: 3 minutes “When we go to Mars, we will have to grow our own food.” Canadian physician, engineer and former astronaut Robert Thirsk made that comment when asked a question on the preservation of seed at the Canadian Beef Industry Virtual Conference in late August. Since a space vessel cannot carry enough food to fly to, and then conduct […] Read more
Drone tech’s next big target? Insect pest management
There are multiple potential future applications for drone tech in the works
Reading Time: 2 minutes Drones keep getting smaller and smaller, while their potential applications keep getting bigger and bigger. And now unmanned aircraft systems are taking on some of the world’s biggest small problems: insect pests. From crop-munching caterpillars to disease-transmitting mosquitoes, insects that threaten crops, ecosystems, and public health are increasingly being targeted with new pest-management strategies that […] 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
Digital herd management project gets funding
Three-quarters of cow-calf producers still using pen and paper, says funding body
Reading Time: < 1 minute RDAR, the province’s independent research funding body, has given a grant to a project to encourage cattle producers to swap their pens for digital herd-management technology. “Seventy-five per cent of cow-calf producers use pen and paper for their herd record-keeping and management,” Results Driven Agriculture Research said in announcing a $43,000 grant to Flokk Systems […] Read more
Giving it the old college try has a new meaning these days
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lakeland College and Lethbridge College have each received a major funding boost and the pair has also joined five of their provincial counterparts to create a new research alliance. Lakeland is getting $1 million in federal funding for smart agriculture technology. It will be used to construct a new Livestock Reproductive Technology Laboratory and boost […] Read more
Deere, Bear Flag aim to automate tractors as ‘fast as possible’
Reuters – U.S. tractor maker Deere & Co said on Thursday it would buy tech startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million, with the goal of developing over the next year systems Deere can sell to allow farm tractors to operate without a human driver in the cab. “We are effectively in market with real […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
