Articles by Jeff Melchior - Manitoba Co-operator

Better bin monitoring data is key to better drying and that, in turn, could allow Prairie farmers to start harvest a week or two earlier, says Chandra Singh, an expert in wireless sensor technology for grain bins.

Better grain bin sensors could put you in the combine a week earlier

The key to an earlier start is being able to successfully dry down higher-moisture grain

By Jeff Melchior July 28, 2021

To some, new research on wireless sensors and automated fans for grain bins may seem like just another technical study. But there’s big stakes in play — an opportunity to move up harvest by a week or even two, says Chandra Singh. “When I joined Lethbridge College in 2019 there was a very early snow

While the DOT autonomous platform (shown here at a recent seeding demonstration at the Olds College Smart Farm) is scaled for large farms, others are designed for small operations, such as vineyards and orchards. But both represent important milestones in the evolution of farm equipment, say experts.

Equipment, Farmit Manitoba

DOT earns passing grades at college, but not straight A’s

Fuel and labour are issues but the driverless implement shows plenty of potential in trials

By Jeff Melchior June 23, 2021

Is the DOT ready for a full-time job on your operation? It might be too early to say, but researchers know the self-propelled, driverless tractor-minus-the-tractor finishes what it starts. “Every mission we started with DOT we were able to finish with DOT,” said Joy Agnew of Olds College. “There was never a catastrophic failure or

Don’t cheap out on materials and “start basic,” says Greg Paranich, an agricultural field specialist and electric fence “troubleshooter.

Livestock, News

How to stay (properly) grounded when installing electric fencing

Quality — whether ground rods, wire or insulators — is worth the money, says fencing expert

By Jeff Melchior June 15, 2021

To anyone who’s never built one, an electric fence can seem like a pretty simple structure. In some ways they’re right — like any kind of electrical circuit, an electric fence requires a source of power, a conduit, some kind of ground and usually insulators. But, as is often the case, it’s only as good

“Make sure you understand that people are watching you. It matters what you do. It matters a lot.” – Alan Quilley.

Farmit Manitoba, News

Take farm safety personally and make a commitment, says expert

Don’t practise on-farm safety because the government says so — do it for yourself and your family

By Jeff Melchior March 22, 2021

Glacier FarmMedia – Working safely on the farm is like getting ready to jump out of an airplane. You can’t afford to pack your parachute right only some of the time — you have to do it right every time. That line of thinking is the same producers should be using in their safety procedures

A growing number of farmers are frustrated by not having access to diagnostic tools when an error code flashes on the monitor on a combine.

Equipment, News

Do farmers have the right to repair their own equipment?

The debate over ‘right to repair’ versus ‘right to modify’ leaves producers stuck in the middle

By Jeff Melchior February 25, 2021

It’s a story that’s becoming more and more common. You’re smack dab in the middle of harvest and an error code appears on your combine’s monitor. A call to the dealership results in a long wait for a technician to come out, with anxiety rising with every passing hour because priceless harvesting time is being

Adding heat, such as from a portable direct flame heater like this one, can turn “poor drying days into good drying days.”

News

Now is the time to start thinking about conditioning canola

Having the right setup and the manpower capacity for turning bins are keys to avoiding spoilage

By Jeff Melchior August 5, 2020

Two late and wet harvests in a row have greatly increased canola spoilage — and upped the need to have a conditioning plan in place early on. “It’s really important to consider this topic now when there is time rather than being in the heat of harvest and having to make decisions,” said Lorne Grieger,

A direct-fired system using an NAD fan with supplemental heating (in this case, propane). Researchers were surprised to find direct systems were not as efficient as indirect ones.

Crops

What’s the best bang for your grain-drying buck?

No one really knows for sure but a research project is looking for answers

By Jeff Melchior July 29, 2020

As producers know all too well, grain drying can be very expensive. But what isn’t known is which grain-conditioning system offers the most bang for the buck. “There’s a real gap in the understanding of the efficiency of — for example — natural air-drying (NAD) systems with supplemental heating,” said Lorne Grieger of the Prairie Agricultural Research Institute, which

The back side of a standard New Holland boom retrofitted with the WEED-IT Quadro. Retailer Croplands Equipment sells the Quadro in either a retrofit kit which allows it to be installed on most types of existing sprayer booms or as a120-foot Millennium boom.

Equipment, News

Smart sprayer tech developing quickly

This technology isn’t quite a done deal yet, but it’s now more science fact than fiction

By Jeff Melchior May 29, 2020

Producers have been hearing about weed-targeting spot-spraying sensors for some time, but it’s always seemed to be the stuff of science fiction. In some cases, however, the future is now while in others it’s coming quickly — it all depends on the type of sensor tech you’re interested in. Well-known spraying expert Tom Wolf separates precision spot-spraying tech into

Today’s drones are great at selecting pastures and tracking cattle, can read an ear tag from 70 metres up, and offer spectral imaging a hundred times more powerful than  satellites, says researcher John Church. And while they’re not good at herding, drone technology is close to offering health assessments of individual cows.

Equipment, Farmit Manitoba

Plunging prices and better tech should put drones on your radar

Drones with sophisticated imaging tech can be robust precision tools for managing cattle on pasture

By Jeff Melchior November 26, 2019

Producers are always being pitched new technology, and the marketing din is arguably louder than ever in this age of precision agriculture. So when producers ask if unmanned aerial vehicles are just expensive toys, it’s a fair question. While John Church would be the first to admit he has a lot of fun researching the

Calgary-based Bio-Cycle Solutions says it has spread its compost-based product on about four million acres.

Crops

It’s cheap and plentiful but is elemental sulphur a fertilizer option?

Calgary company touts the benefits of its compost-based product

By Jeff Melchior October 9, 2019

[UPDATED: Oct. 10, 2019] When you consider the cost and bulkiness of conventional sulphur fertilizers, producers can hardly be blamed for seeking out alternatives to meet their crops’ sulphate needs. One of these alternatives is elemental sulphur — a byproduct of the oil and gas industry that is plentiful and cheap in Western Canada. But

Aurora Cannabis to shut one Edmonton plant

U.S. grains: Corn eases as harvest progresses

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle follow packer demand down

GFM Network News