This aphid parasitoid died trying to emerge from the aphid mummy.

New Cereal Aphid Manager app

Take this app on scouting and let it help you decide if you need to spray

Aphids can be a big problem in cereal crops, and populations can build quickly. Knowing if and when to spray can be tricky. Decisions are driven by estimated aphid populations and factors can impact them — weather and natural predators. The new Cereal Aphid Manager app can help. This app uses considers these factors to […] Read more



The two ZG-TS fertilizer spreaders from Amazone incorporate a lot of digital technology.

PHOTOS: Amazone spreaders go high-tech

Amazone adds upscale technology to its broadcast spreaders

Amazone’s CEO, Christian Dreyer, told farm journalists that the company intended to focus on integrating sophisticated technology into its implements during a media field day in Germany in September. The brand’s fertilizer spreaders will be no exception. Two updated ZG-TS pull-type spreader models made their debut at that field day. With tank capacities of 212 […] Read more

When I pulled up to Don’s wheat field last year on July 6, the first thing I noticed was how yellow the crop was. The crop’s development was also very uneven. For example, some plants were still at the five-leaf stage, while others had the flag leaf out with the head in the boot.

Get ready for drone sprayers

Manitoba company preparing to do custom chemical applications with drones

The use of drones in agriculture seems to gain a little more momentum every season. So far, the jobs they’ve been put to include taking NDVI images and crop scouting, among others. But one Manitoba entrepreneur thinks even with comparatively small payload capacity aerial spraying may be a good fit for the technology. Don Campbell, […] Read more


High-tech and higher-level training

High-tech and higher-level training

Moving your farm to high-tech solutions doesn’t mean safety can take a backseat

Technology has brought about so many advances in agriculture. Automation and computers allow us to do more than ever before. But high-tech doesn’t always equal high safety. Understanding what can’t be replaced with technology and how to use technology as a tool is a new area of farm safety that will only grow as technology advances. […] Read more

D3: The digital dumbing down

Not all information is better in the digital age. Especially data about the weather

We are now in “the information age.” Information, mostly good but sometimes sketchy, is literally at our fingertips. As I wrote this piece if a spelling error occurred, my software program underlined it in red. Then I quickly opened a web browser and put my spelling of the word into Google and up popped the […] Read more


AutoTrac Turn Automation is one of four new applications John Deere will offer for 2018.

New AutoTrac options from John Deere

John Deere releases more advanced guidance and options for data sharing

In early December John Deere released three new advanced or expanded guidance features along with a new machine data-sharing application for its Generation 4 displays. AutoTrac Turn Automation, AutoTrac Implement Guidance, AutoTrac Vision for Tractors and the In-Field Data Sharing applications are now being sold as bundled activations for the John Deere 4600 CommandCenter and […] Read more

A bridge system from Agra-GPS allows 
Deere GreenStar GPS to function in several non-Deere machines.

Bridging the digital gap

 Agra-GPS “bridge” kit makes Deere GPS compatible with other brands

John Deere currently offers a pretty broad range of digital features for its equipment, and many Prairie growers are familiar with using the brand’s GPS and data management systems. But for those using mixed fleets, transferring the Deere technology to other machines and getting anything near the full range of available features hasn’t always been […] Read more


GSI’s FlexWave inflatable liner pushes grain toward an auger trough, eliminating the need to manually enter bins to clean them out.

GSI introduces FlexWave

Inflatable liners clean out bin floors

Imagine an easier way to clean out flat-bottom grain bins. GSI was demonstrating its new FlexWave technology in August at the U.S. Farm Progress Show in Illinois as an entirely new and easy way to do exactly that. According to the company, FlexWave is a new alternative to the common grain bin sweeps, brooms and […] Read more