Targan’s WingScan technology allows chicks 
to be sexed without human intervention.

Quebec hatcheries automate chick sexing

WingScan device uses artificial intelligence to recognize chick wings and seperate sexes

Artificial intelligence is helping sex broiler chicks at hatcheries in Quebec. The hatcheries have been implementing WingScan, which recognizes chick wings, automating the process.

Qiang Zhang, professor with the University of Manitoba’s department of biosystems engineering, speaks about smart livestock farming during a presentation at the university Oct. 23.

Building smart barns for smart farms

More sophisticated sensors and data analysis are pushing the idea of true smart barns, and livestock producers are going to need to jump in on the technology, professor says

Farmers of the future should look to incorporate a network of sensors, technology and computer power that will let them build true smart barns and optimize their farms, professor says.





The Stratus AirSprayer is essentially a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones. Photo: Supplied

Paraglider powers a new kind of sprayer

The Stratus AirSprayer is different than the quadcopters and fixed-wing UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) typically associated with ag drones. Essentially, it’s a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones.

Row of pork carcasses at meat factory

Mode40 brings AI technology to the meat locker

Developing AI-based system promises optimal carcass cooling

Artificial intelligence is digging footholds in agriculture and agribusiness, from crop and herd monitoring to traceability and weed management. For one Manitoba-born company, AI has become a tool for carcass quality control in the meat sector. Cameron Bergen is chief executive officer and co-founder of mode40, a technology services company that helps manufacturing organizations update


For beef producers, artificial intelligence could provide valuable insight into farm management.

AI and beef production: When good isn’t enough anymore

AI is bringing a new era to the beef sector, and status-quo thinking won’t cut it

Glacier FarmMedia – You may run a good beef farm, maybe even a great one. Making yourself remarkable, however, is another matter in the age of explosive artificial intelligence (AI) technology. That was the message from one technology expert speaking to the Alberta Beef Industry Conference earlier this year. Why it matters: Agriculture, like other

A Moonsyst Smart Rumen Bolus is inserted at MBFI’s Brookdale Farm north of Brandon.

Gut sensors may be one high-tech answer to reproductive efficiency in cattle

From sensors made to swallow to the cow version of Big Brother, MBFI is putting reproductive optimizing technologies to the test

A research project underway at Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives (MBFI) north of Brandon might help cattle operations across the Prairies take their replacement heifer game plan to the next level. MBFI is one of three western Canadian sites feeding data into a four-year study aimed at evaluating how various novel technologies might improve reproductive


Editorial: Farming in the age of Asimov

Editorial: Farming in the age of Asimov

The first time I picked up a book by Isaac Asimov, I was in high school and the book was “Foundation.” More recently, I got around to another Asimov classic, “I, Robot.”  If your only experience with Asimov’s AI-centred opus is the 2004 movie, forget everything you know. The book has less violent robot revolution