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

Developed by Upside Robotics of Waterloo, Ont., this small robot is designed to work continuously in a group, travelling between 30-inch corn rows, to apply in-season fertilizer.

Beethoven takes to the field

Small robots from Upside Robotics work in a swarm to fertilize corn crops

Glacier FarmMedia — A pint-sized robot is set to undergo wider field trials next year in Ontario corn crops. At only 24 inches wide, the robot is designed to travel between 30-inch corn rows in crops and apply in-season fertilizer. With a number of them working 24 hours a day in groups called swarms, they […] Read more


A spray drone used water to demonstrate the technology’s potential during a Prairie Fruit Growers Association farm tour in Manitoba in June.

Drone spraying sees some lift toward label approvals

Work is ongoing to satisfy Canada’s regulators and get drones added to pesticide labels

Glacier FarmMedia — The ray of hope might be dim right now, but farmers wanting to legally spray pesticides on their crops using drones may be seeing the first hint of light at the end of the tunnel. Ross Breckels, a senior scientific evaluator with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), said the process […] Read more

The Stratus AirSprayer in flight at the Spaceport America testing facility in New Mexico during the spring of 2024.

Switching to glide

Precision AI’s new autonomous Stratus AirSprayer can carry bigger loads and fly longer than conventional ag drones

For decades, farmers have used boom sprayers in their fields to protect crops from weeds, disease and insect pests. They’ve also relied on crop dusters, which first took flight 100 years or so ago. The advent of drone technology has ushered in a new age in aerial spraying. Today, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market […] Read more


The Stratus AirSprayer is essentially a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones. Photo: Supplied

Paraglider powers a new kind of sprayer

The Stratus AirSprayer is different than the quadcopters and fixed-wing UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) typically associated with ag drones. Essentially, it’s a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones.

A paraglider powers the Stratus AirSprayer. Photo: Supplied

Paraglider powers a new kind of sprayer

The Stratus AirSprayer is different than the quadcopters and fixed-wing UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) typically associated with ag drones. Essentially, it’s a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones.



john deere tractor in field

Heading for a fully autonomous fleet by 2030

John Deere intends to offer a full suite of autonomous equipment in five years

As John Deere unveiled its 2025 model year product line in late February, it brought the company one year closer to a significant date: 2030. That’s when the brand has promised to be able to offer a complete fleet of autonomous equipment, able to handle a full farming season from seeding to harvest with self-driving […] Read more


VIDEO: Precision upgrades for Deere tractors and sprayers 

VIDEO: Precision upgrades for Deere tractors and sprayers 

Tech options aimed at injecting new life into older machines

If you’re not quite ready to pony up for a new John Deere, the brand’s line of precision hardware may be a nice fit to access some of its newer technology features. Deere’s precision upgrade line offers some of the latest receivers, displays, and modems at an affordable price to get more out of your […] Read more

The use of drones to deliver field pesticides, such as in this illustration, has an uphill road ahead, not just in terms of regulation but in technical development.

Don’t hold your breath for a drone sprayer

The dynamics of spraying via drone are complex and unforgiving — as are regulations

Glacier FarmMedia — Precision agriculture has simplified many on-farm practices and procedures, particularly in the past five years as seen in the rush to automate tractors, planters and weed management systems. But those are two-dimensional applications, and although those can go awry and complicate a grower’s plans, adding a third dimension — in the air […] Read more