farmer piloting drone in canada

Evaluating new tech, products and practices

There is always something new around the corner, so how do crop consultants filter out the noise and arrive at a reliable recommendation for their clients?

With new products, new production practices and new technology converging in the agriculture industry at a frenetic pace, independent agronomists and crop advisors try to sort the wheat from the proverbial chaff as they advise clients on what might or might not work on an individual farm. Not only has the pace of introducing new […] Read more






A May 2022 RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellite image of fields in Manitoba, including many affected by flooding. Adoption of satellite imagery in agriculture is seen to have lagged compared to other sectors.

Farm focus needed for eyes in the sky

An ag expert with NASA talks about why on-farm adoption of satellite imagery has lagged

Satellite imagery has potential to revolutionize agricultural management, but that isn’t likely to happen unless on-farm adoption rates increase, the head of a NASA-led consortium said during a recent event in Winnipeg. NASA Harvest executive director Alyssa Whitcraft told attendees at this year’s Canadian Crops Convention that use of satellite imagery has exploded in some […] Read more

a robot working in a greenhouse

Editor’s Rant: All hail Skynet

Well, folks, my longtime colleague Lee Hart has done something even more impressive than usual over on page 14. Over the years I’ve read articles and columns in this paper that have left me concerned for farmers, concerned for their crops and livestock, concerned for my RRSPs and concerned for the economy, but his article […] 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



Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative
(EMILI) is working with Geco Engineering to assess the
performance of Geco’s weed mapping technology for
predicting weed locations and detecting emerging herbicide
resistance. Summer student Ryan Ruchkall is among those at
EMILI’s Innovation Farms who are operating drones to collect
field data on kochia and wild oat.

High-tech weed control to give farmers a look into how precise spraying can be

Digital tool can be used to predict where weeds will emerge and identify areas with herbicide resistance within fields

Saskatchewan farmer Carl deConinck Smith is a dedicated early adopter who likes to keep on top of the latest innovations in digital agriculture technology. No surprise then that he’s arranged to have some new precision ag tech put to use on his farm this summer. It’s a digital tool developed by Geco Engineering in Vancouver, […] Read more