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 sectors — but its adoption in agriculture has lagged. “The adoption of satellite data on-farm and other parts of the ag value chain is really not where we envisioned (it would be), given we have 50 years of history with it a ..read more

The introduction of the AF11 twin-rotor Case IH combine in February may have been a bit of a shock to longtime enthusiasts of the red brand. The twin-rotor concept had been a strictly New Holland design feature until then. Combine design has been one of the major differences when it comes to machines offered by the two sister brands Case IH and New Holland under CNH Industrial ownership—until now, that is. While it isn’t really clear yet just how similar the features of the new Case IH AF11 and the New Holland CR 11 combine — which was introduced at Agritechnica in Germany — are, the trend tow ..read more

Occasional plumes of smoke from distant wildfires may affect human comfort — but how does a smoke-obscured sun and poor air quality affect crops? “This has been a big topic of conversation where I work in the state of Indiana,” says Dan Quinn, an assistant professor of agronomy and extension corn specialist at Purdue University. He spoke at the recent CropConnect conference in Winnipeg. “I work primarily in corn, and Indiana is different in terms of climate and overall production than up here in Canada.” Data from Canada’s National Forestry Database and the National Interagency Fire Center in ..read more

Spring feels like the first chapter of a new book you hope becomes a favourite classic. At the start of a new growing season, you have an idea of the basic summary of the story. The familiar rhythms of the arrival of baby calves and planting crops are certain. However, you can never be sure what the overall theme of the story will be. Mother Nature, the unpredictable main character, will keep the other people in your series wondering what might happen next. Like most farmers across Canada, we make full use of the longer daylight to get some important jobs done that will set us up for the rest ..read more

Katie Keddy’s approach to teaching her two sons about safety on the farm is simple: normalize it. “We believe in teaching them lessons so that they grow up with safety as a culture on the farm instead of learning it as adults,” Keddy explains. Keddy and her husband, Philip, are second-generation farmers growing sweet potatoes and strawberry nursery plants with her in-laws at Lakeville, N.S. Being both a parent and involved with the farm, Keddy says she recognized early on the significance of making safety a regular part of conversations and way of thinking. “Through the busyness of business, e ..read more

When this issue hits your mailbox (on or around May 7), we’ll be at about the peak of one of the best meteor showers Earth sees this year. Wishing on shooting stars is silly at best, but if I see one — other than my standing wish for seven bucks and the winning 6/49 ticket that will buy — my wish is that when Prairie farmers, ranchers, veterinarians and farm writers do finally learn all we need to know about highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle, we won’t have learned it the hard way. “All we need to know” so far includes a lot that no one yet knows — so let’s start today with what we do ..read more

As farmers continue to demand ever-larger and more efficient equipment, Bourgault has announced it’s ready to meet that need with the introduction of a new harrow bar series, the XR8. It’s available in 90- and 110-foot working widths, making them the widest five- and seven-row harrow bars currently on the market, according to the brand. Available in two versions, the XR871 eXtended Range Harrows offers a seven-row set of tines, while the XR851 eXtended Range Heavy Harrows uses five. “The XR871 is more of an all-around, general purpose harrow,” Bourgault’s research and design engineer Austin Pi ..read more

It’s become a rare thing these days to see used tractors more than a decade or two old sitting on a dealer’s lot. But Little Morden Service at Morden, Man., has one very notable exception to that trend. Sitting in its showroom is a freshly restored 1968 Versatile 145 tractor. LMS has been a Versatile dealer for many years and when the chance to get this vintage machine as a trade-in came up, Abe Penner, co-owner and general manager, thought it might be a very unique opportunity. “Our salesman came to me and said, do you want a 145 Versatile?” Penner explained. “I said I wasn’t sure, but I star ..read more

Back in March, I joined a crowd of people purposefully moving from booth to table to booth at St. Mary’s Wellness and Education Centre in Saskatoon. The occasion was the annual Seedy Saturday, an opportunity amidst the snow and ice for gardeners to buy seeds and think about spring. Seedy Saturdays occur across Canada under the auspices of Seeds of Diversity. This organization aims to preserve, perpetuate, study and encourage the growth of heirloom and endangered food crops. The event has several goals: “encouraging the use of open-pollinated and heritage seeds, enabling a local seed exchange ..read more

To spray or not to spray? That is the question many farmers will be asking themselves in the coming weeks. While it’s still too early to say what pest and disease forecasts will look like this season, it’s never too soon to start thinking about temperature and other factors that can help to determine the right — or wrong — time to apply pesticides. Dan Johnson is a professor of environmental science and researcher with the University of Lethbridge who has studied grasshoppers extensively. He says one common fallacy in fighting the herbivorous pest is that the pyrethroid insecticides that are s ..read more