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Agronomy and the Law: Are you prepared to answer that question from a farming client?

With the increasing development and usage of precision agriculture and technological advances in the agriculture industry, farmers are experiencing huge increases in productivity, efficiency and profitability. These innovations include the industry’s development of software applications to manage farm data, sensors on implements, drones, precision machinery and GPS technology, to name a few. With this rise […] Read more

Variability across a farm, or even within a field, can complicate data analysis for a producer.

Dollars from data

Improving the quality of the quantifying can help improve bottom lines, nutrient management, yields and decision-making

Unlocking the full strength of your data can turn small changes into bigger returns, and smart, localized insights can boost a farm’s bottom line, Brunel Sabourin of Antara Agronomy says. Sabourin was speaking to an audience of farmers and agronomists at St. Jean Farm Days, an agricultural event at St. Jean Baptiste, Man., about 60 […] Read more


A majority of ag-based companies in a recent survey reported experiencing at least one attempt at a ransomware attack.

How to prepare for and deal with a loss of farm data

Gathering the farm team together can help develop a backup plan

Many of today’s farming operations rely on data more than most other small businesses. But what happens if a farm’s data is suddenly lost or compromised? How would that affect operations? Losing field data maps and other files, not to mention business and employee records, could become a big problem. In today’s global environment there […] Read more

How should growers and agronomists interpret the gigabytes, even terabytes, of ag data available?

How to deal with the farm data deluge

The growers have all the data, but do they necessarily use it?

Glacier FarmMedia — The launch of the first GPS yield monitors altered the world of on-farm data collection. That was followed by variable-rate technology, precision planting and aerial/satellite imaging. Most growers have now been accumulating data for 20 years or longer — and many have resolved to keep that data in the hopes of finding […] Read more


Units such as these developed by a British firm, Small Robot Co., have already been put to work in per-plant weed control, in which an AI "advice engine" identifies which plants the robot can kill.

Farmers need to be open to AI technology

Already a major force, artificial intelligence soon will be smarter than humans

If Canadian farmers are waiting for the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) to hit the agriculture industry, they’re a bit late, according to a technology expert and consultant. It’s already here. And although he’s not a farmer himself, Walter Schwabe told producers attending the recent CrossRoads Conference in Calgary that if farmers don’t try to […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Canada bumps up wheat harvest view, trims canola estimate

StatCan releases yield outlook as of Aug. 31

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian farmers will harvest slightly more wheat and a bit less canola than expected earlier in summer, but dry conditions will keep both crops small, a government report showed on Thursday. Farms in North and South America, Europe and Australia are facing crop losses as extreme weather spreads over an unusually […] Read more


John Deere’s 8R autonomous tractor is pictured at Jensen Test Farm at Bondurant, Iowa, just northeast of Des Moines, on April 28, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Bianca Flowers)

Deere tapping into Apple-like tech model to drive revenue

'Hopefully the costs will be paid back in the long run'

Bondurant, Iowa | Reuters — Deere and Co. has sold its tractors and other equipment to farmers for decades, but the world’s largest agriculture machinery manufacturer is tearing a page from the technology world’s playbook — combining cutting-edge hardware with software and subscription models to drive revenue growth. In a world with a dwindling number […] Read more

File photo of wheat being loaded onto a bulk vessel at port in Russia. (YGrek/iStock/Getty Images)

Russia’s agriculture ministry pauses grain harvesting data

Moscow | Reuters — Russia’s agriculture ministry has paused its daily publication of grain harvesting data while it refines the reporting format used by the country’s growing regions, the ministry said Wednesday. Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, supplying it mainly to Africa and the Middle East. It competes with the European Union and […] Read more


(Conservis.ag)

Telus, Rabobank ag arms buy into farm data aggregator

Companies join in on deal for Minneapolis-based Conservis

The agriculture arms of one of Canada’s major telecoms providers and a major Dutch bank and financial services firm are taking a stake in a tech firm in the business of gathering on-farm data into a single window. Telus Agriculture and Rabo AgriFinance, which is headquartered in St. Louis and serves U.S. farm customers, announced […] Read more

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

College farms, GFM Discovery Farm to get smarter together

Two Alberta colleges sign on for new CAAIN-backed network

A pair of Alberta college farms and Glacier FarmMedia’s Saskatchewan farm are the first to plug into a national network of “smart farms” to improve the ag sector’s smart technology experience. The Olds College Smart Farm will lead the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network, which will also include Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm at Langham, Sask. and […] Read more