Soil Command, which can digitally adjust settings on Case IH tillage implements, will be available on the VT-Flex 435 and Speed-Tiller 475 for next season.

Case IH expands tillage implement manager

Soil Command digital control feature added to VT-Flex 435 and Speed-Tiller 475

Case IH’s Soil Command system allows operators to adjust the brand’s tillage equipment settings right from the tractor cab, instead of manually. Until now that feature has been available on only some of the red brand’s implements — but now its availability is being expanded. “We’ve had Soil Command for a few years, but we’re […] Read more

The CrossCutter disc blade has an 11-cm wave to provide maximum soil contact and movement at very shallow working depths.

Vaderstad’s new tillage tool goes (very) shallow

The Carrier 925 can work effectively in depths from one to five centimetres

At its manufacturing facility in Sweden, Vaderstad introduced its new Carrier 925 high-speed disc to members of the media in late May. It’s designed specifically for very shallow tillage applications. Unlike Vaderstad’s other Carrier models on the North American market, the Carrier 925 gets a third row of discs, instead of two. The extra row […] Read more


john kolk

Strip tillage reducing erosion risk

For this Alberta farmer, the practice is one tool to protect vulnerable crops from the blast of prevailing winds

John Kolk hasn’t ironed out all the wrinkles involved in getting a crop seeded and growing while reducing or eliminating the risk of soil erosion, but the southern Alberta farmer has made “significant progress.” In recent years, a combination of practices that include cover crops and strip tillage have helped to hold the soil in […] Read more



deere 8r tractor with agco outrun autonomous system

Can autonomous systems cut costs?

Agco claims its prototype Outrun system has shown ROI benefits

Could having autonomous equipment working on your farm improve the operation’s overall profit picture? Agco claims it has demonstrated exactly that during initial field trials of its Outrun retrofit autonomy kit, which it introduced to the farm media near Salina, Kansas in late June. “What we’re providing is a kit that takes a tractor and […] Read more

tillage equipment in a rock quarry

VIDEO: Rock, paper, steel

Quarry pit pits Väderstad equipment up against tons of rock

With the high cost of new farm equipment, most farmers would agree that they want the most bang for their buck. But what if that ‘bang’ was in the form of a rock quarry used as testing grounds to drag equipment through? That’s precisely the approach that Väderstad takes for its lines of tillage and […] Read more


morris c2 contour drill

Zero till: how did it all happen?

Soils & Crops: In Saskatchewan, necessity was the mother of more than one invention

In March 1993 in Grainews there appeared a piece by a certain soils columnist titled “A Quiet Revolution in Crop Production.” It concluded that within the next two decades we’d see a revolution in the way we farmed. It came to pass much as predicted — but what made it happen was work in farm […] Read more

A study shows that in terms of response to moisture-related stress, the crop type is more important than the specific variety.

Curb risk from moisture stress for less

A Manitoba agronomist offers up some tips for farmers on a budget

With swings between wet and dry extremes in recent years, Prairie farmers have seen more water stress problems in their fields. Not only do they make crops less productive, but they can also crank up the stress levels for farmers. “Historically, our two main risks in crop production long term have been excess moisture and […] Read more


Marcel Kringe, founder and CEO and Courtney Baxter, global marketing manager, with Bushel Plus show one of the combine concaves they are marketing at Agritechnica.  Photo: John Greig

Agritechnica update: Canadian content and a John Deere update

There’s significant Canadian content at Agritechnica. Large companies like AGI and MacDon have impressive displays with significant real estate. I also happened upon the Canada pavilion, packed with companies familiar to many of us, including Honey Bee, Mankato, Schulte and Bushel Plus. The companies say that there’s value in companies from Canada banding together to […] Read more

Axten Farms has been using controlled traffic farming on their southern Saskatchewan farm for about eight years. It is one of the changes in production practices that is helping to break up soil compaction, improve water infiltration rates and support improved crop yields.

Farmers assess the effects of soil compaction

How some producers recognize and manage the issue

While Mother Nature does its best in Western Canada to alleviate soil compaction through the freeze and thaw cycle, researchers suspect nature has a hard time keeping up with the pressure (figuratively and literally) of modern agricultural technology. Bigger, heavier equipment travelling over fields, particularly when soil conditions are wet, is believed to cause soil […] Read more