The Agriculture Enlightened conference, held Oct. 26 in Winnipeg and hosted by EMILI, is trying to help Canada become a leader in digital and precision agriculture. (John Deere photo)

Robots may help grain farmers diversify

Tech could support labour-intensive higher-value crops

Chuck Baresich, who owns an agricultural robotics business in Ontario, says controlling weeds with robots is probably best suited for high-value, horticultural crops in Canada. However, large-scale grain farmers could also use the technology if they think about it differently. “Let’s say my brother and me are growing 1,500 acres of corn,” said Baresich, who […] Read more

Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agriculture Producers, speaks during a panel discussion at the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg on Oct. 26. (Geralyn Wichers photo)

Think outside the agriculture box for labour, ag and tech leaders say

Agriculture in the Classroom is reaching non-farming students with inspiration for ag jobs, panelists say

Ag and tech leaders encouraged employers to think outside the agricultural box when looking to hire workers in order to expand the labour pool.  “I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP).  Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and […] Read more


Versatile and startup technology company Mojow Autonomous Solutions have partnered to develop a production autonomous Versatile tractor. A concept machine was demonstrated at the Ag in Motion farm show in Langham, Sask., in July.

Versatile developing autonomous tractors

Partnership with Mojow pushes tech advancements

At the 2022 Ag in Motion farm show in Langham, Sask., a small startup company called Mojow Autonomous Solutions was demonstrating its evolving self-driving system, which was intended to work with production tractors and allow them to run without operators in the cab. It had a self-driving MFWD tractor running on a demonstration course using […] Read more

the Polaris Ranger XD 1500 series side-by-sides 2024 model year

New Ranger Extreme Duty UTV model from Polaris

More power, payload and available premium features

This summer Polaris announced the introduction of a three-cylinder, 1,500 cc, Extreme Duty Ranger side-by-side that delivers what the brand claims is an industry-leading 110 horsepower, giving it 30 per cent more power, and at 105 foot-pounds, 50 per cent more torque than its nearest comparable competitor. “We spent over five years meeting with farmers, […] Read more


John Deere’s new P-Tier articulating loaders are designed to be manoeuvrable enough to work easily in confined spaces like corrals.

New big and small loaders from John Deere

Articulated loaders and compact tractor models added for 2024

John Deere recently introduced two new machine lines for model year 2024, both of which are designed to make material handling and other jobs around the farm easier. Between them, these machines can handle either big jobs or relatively small ones. And Deere describes both lines as “compact” machines, meaning they’ve packed a fair bit […] Read more

A DryAir central heating system feeds aeration fans for a row of grain bins. (Assie.ca)

Investment firm buys Saskatchewan drying system maker

EIC buys DryAir for $60 million

A Winnipeg investment firm with ownership stakes in Canadian manufacturing and airlines has bought a Saskatchewan company that makes heating and drying systems for grain growers and other sectors. Exchange Income Corp. (EIC) announced Oct. 5 it has bought DryAir Manufacturing of St. Brieux for about $60 million in cash and EIC stock. DryAir, in […] Read more


Chrysler and Ram truck dealers will begin offering their own brand of lower-cost aftermarket parts for several makes and models.

Kenworth ready to deliver hydrogen-powered trucks in 2024

New fuel cell power a joint effort between Toyota and Paccar

Electrification and alternative fuels figure prominently in most of the news coming from major automakers right now, including in light- and medium-duty trucks. And the heavy-duty truck manufacturing landscape is no exception either. All truck segments are now seeing major alternative fuel development projects and commercialization of electric drives, all the way from pickups to […] Read more

Rob Painter (l) and Eric Hansotia, CEOs of Trimble and Agco respectively, agreed on Sept. 28, 2023 to combine their precision ag arms into a new joint venture. (Trimble via PRNewswire)

Trimble Ag, Agco’s JCA link up for new precision ag venture

Agco gets majority control of a new precision ag and autonomy firm; Agco's GSI brand and others now under separate review

Global positioning tech firm Trimble is set to sell its precision ag business into a new joint-venture company that will include farm machinery maker Agco’s made-in-Manitoba autonomy arm. From farmers’ perspective, the two companies say their combined technology offering is expected to offer “seamless integration and connectivity across geographies, equipment brands and the crop life […] Read more


Case IH’s relatively new 50 series Patriot sprayers, introduced last year, were given several improvements over the previous series, including new body styling and suspension.

Getting under the skin of the 50 series Patriot sprayers

A closer look at the updated Case IH sprayers

In this second instalment of our sprayer technology series, we take a look at the latest Patriot models introduced by Case IH last year: the 50 series. “With the introduction of the Patriot 50 series, we took the opportunity to start with a clean sheet of paper,” says Mark Burns, application equipment marketing manager at […] Read more

Brent November 2023 crude oil with 20-day moving average (black line) and West Texas intermediate November 2023 crude oil (blue line). (Barchart)

Will oil hit US$100? It already did in some markets

Saudi Arabia, Russia 'in solid control'

London | Reuters –– With oil investors and traders focused on an oil-price rally that has come close to US$100 a barrel, some grades of crude oil are already trading above that milestone, highlighting an expectation of tight supply. The outright price of Nigerian crude Qua Iboe surpassed $100 a barrel on Monday, according to […] Read more