Automation in agriculture should solve at least two issues: replace labour hours and improve the job being done. Add saving money into the mix and the technology is sure to take off. But all technology has to start somewhere, and that somewhere can be universities. Kelvin Heppner, field editor for RealAgriculture, traveled to the Big… Read More
Author: Kelvin Heppner
Kelvin Heppner, field editor for RealAgriculture, has been reporting on Canadian agriculture since 2008(ish). When he's not working on a story, he's usually in a chicken barn or a field, as he also farms with his family near Altona, Manitoba.
The U.S. agriculture industry — and economy as a whole — breathed a sigh of relief early Thursday morning when Labour Secretary Marty Walsh tweeted that a tentative agreement had been reached between rail companies and the unions representing railway workers that were threatening to go on strike on Saturday. The Canadian agriculture sector, for… Read More
The federal government has added polymer-coated urea to the list of enhanced efficiency fertilizer products approved for reimbursement from its On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF). The use of ESN — the trade name of the most commonly used polymer-coated urea product — was notably excluded from the list of beneficial management practices eligible for funding… Read More
After most political party leadership contests, there’s some speculation and odds-making in the agriculture community about who the new leader is going to appoint to the agriculture portfolio. Following Pierre Poilievre’s decisive first-ballot victory in the Conservative leadership race on Saturday, there’s a clear and familiar frontrunner for the agriculture critic post: Foothills MP John… Read More
Oilseed markets moved higher following the release of the USDA’s September crop report on Monday, September 12. U.S. soybean yield was pegged at 50.5 bushels per acre, about a bushel lower than the average pre-report trade guess and down from 51.9 bu/ac in the department’s August report. The number of harvested soybean acres was also… Read More
There’s been a fair amount of interest in comparing the results of canola seeded with a drill versus a planter over the last decade, but as the percentage of acres sown with planters has increased, farmers and agronomists are also looking to compare different planter setups. This Canola School episode takes us to a planter… Read More
Work continues on training computer algorithms to unlock the potential of green-on-green spot spraying systems to identify and target the weeds found on Canadian farm fields. The goal of green-on-green spraying systems is to detect and apply herbicide to weeds that are growing within a green crop. Where green-on-brown spot spraying systems used for burnoff… Read More
Edible beans are usually viewed as one of the weaker performers among legume crops when it comes to fixing nitrogen, but new research shows they likely deserve more credit than they’ve been given. “We’ve really regarded them as non-legumes and standard practice in most areas has been to fertilize to their full nitrogen requirements,” notes… Read More
More than three thousand conductors, yard staff and trainpersons who work for CN Rail are working with an expired contract, and it’s not clear when the railway and its largest union will sit down to begin collective bargaining. The three-year collective agreement between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and CN Rail that was signed… Read More
The details of how the Canadian government plans to reach its 30 per cent nitrogen fertilizer emission reduction target are still not clear, but the federal agriculture minister says the government has “no intention of going in a regulatory direction.” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau also says farm practices that reduce emissions, but are not currently… Read More
CN Rail is preparing for more eastbound shipments of grain and other commodities from Western Canada. As part of its federally-mandated plan for moving grain in 2022-23, the railway says it’s not only anticipating a much larger crop in Western Canada after last year’s drought, but it’s also expecting a re-balancing of trade corridors to… Read More
The Canadian government’s plan to reduce emissions from nitrogen fertilizer has gained widespread attention over the last few weeks, with plenty of unanswered questions and uncertainty surrounding the proposal. Originally announced in late 2020, the plan to reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from synthetic fertilizer by 30 per cent in 2030 relative to a 2020… Read More
Researchers at Laval University in Quebec have developed a hydroponic lab test that could allow growers and agronomists to better deploy genetic resistance and tolerance in the fight against phytophthora root rot in soybeans. There are three main ways to curb phytophthora, explains Geneviève Arsenault-Labrecque, co-founder of AYOS Technologies, a spinoff founded by students at Laval, in… Read More
The same batteries that power electric cars could be used to move crops, as Convey-All debuted a prototype battery-powered conveyor at the 2022 Ag in Motion farm show. The “Volt” conveyor features 36 batteries and output equivalent to 30 horsepower, explains Gerald Unrau, product manager with Convey-All/Meridian Manufacturing, in the interview below. Under full load,… Read More
An Edmonton-based autonomous agriculture start-up is developing a camera-based system that allows self-driving tractors to recognize and respond to changes in their surroundings. Mojow Autonomous Solutions was incorporated in early 2020. “We’ve developed an autonomous navigation and control kit that uses a camera for its main sensor,” explains founder and CEO Owen Kinch. “It allows… Read More