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

m5 kubota

Would an autonomous tractor really fit your operation?

Sabanto is offering field trials of its autonomous conversion kit

Tech startup company Sabanto displayed an M5 Kubota tractor equipped with its autonomy conversion kit at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show at Woodstock, Ont. in September. But the company was willing to do more than just show off the modified tractor at its booth in order to introduce it to potential customers. The Chicago-area company was […] Read more


Justin Prickel demonstrates the WeedSeeker 2 system’s ability to detect a weed during Agco’s 2024 Tech Day event near Salina, Kansas in June. PTx Trimble is now part of a joint venture between Trimble and Agco.

WeedSeeker 2 offers spot-spraying retrofit for existing sprayers

The green-on-brown system could reduce herbicide use in spring and fall applications

The three current green-on-green spot spray systems on the market now are only capable of functioning in corn, soybean and cotton crops. For most Prairie producers, that doesn’t fit their operations very well. A green-on-brown system, however, could offer significant reductions in herbicide use during pre-seeding and post-harvest burndowns. PTx Trimble’s WeedSeeker 2 system offers […] Read more

Agco has its sights set on being the market leader in technology and autonomy that can be retrofitted onto multiple machines from all OEMs.

How Agco is striving for tech dominance

Agco looks to dominate the precision farming landscape and deliver products in a new way

Speaking to a group of ag and investment journalists in late June, Agco CEO Eric Hansotia said his aim is to take Agco to a dominant market position in precision farming offerings. In a meeting of senior management several months ago, the decision to pursue that goal was made, he says. Now the company is […] Read more


Agco has acquired 85 per cent ownership of Trimble’s agricultural products line. Trimble products sold under the new joint venture will now have the brand name PTx Trimble.

New PTx brand a blend of precision farming systems

Joint Agco-Trimble venture combines digital technologies for both retrofit and OEM applications

As of early April there’s a new name on the precision farming landscape: PTx. It includes a joint Agco-Trimble venture that will take over Trimble’s existing agricultural products line as well as Agco’s JCA Technologies business under the newly-coined PTx Trimble brand. Agco has acquired an 85 per cent share in the j.v., while Trimble […] 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


The new 5670 planters from Kinze are available for the 2024 model year.

Kinze cranks up convenience on new 5670 Series planters

New models -- and a new digital agreement with John Deere for data integration

In January Iowa-based Kinze manufacturing announced the debut of its new model 5670 line of pivot-fold, split-row planters, which it says offers more convenience and easy serviceability. The planters are available in 12/23-row and 16/31-row configurations that will work on both 15- and 30-inch row spacings. The pivot fold gives them a narrow width for […] Read more

Case IH Magnums will get more horsepower for model year 2025, along with two complete digital technology packages direct from the factory.

Case IH updates its Magnum tractor line

Expect more horsepower and digital technology for the 2025 model year

At the Commodity Classic farm show in Houston in February, Case IH unveiled its new 2025 model year Magnum tractor line. And in keeping with the industry trend of horsepower creep-up, these tractors, too, see a few more ponies stabled under their hoods. “The 380 and the 400 both get five additional horsepower,” says Morgan […] Read more


John Deere equipment will soon be able to connect to the Starlink satellite network in some regions.

Deere getting connected via satellite

John Deere teams with Starlink for machine connectivity

One common complaint many farmers have is that rural cellular coverage is often less than impressive. It’s a complaint not limited to Canada, and in fact we have it better than some other countries. But that limited service affects the use of digitally connected machines in a farm fleet, which need good connectivity. So John […] 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