If you weren’t one of the 170 people that came together at our Conference & Trade Show last week, you missed a bunch of research updates.
Each presentation explored a different topic related to agriculture and agronomy.
Speakers covered best management practices of novel crops, identifying and defending against pathogens, the best way to control pests, how you can best implement a grazing system on your land, and much more!
The Conference also hosted another year of fantastic speakers from local 4-H clubs who livened up the room post-lunch! We would like to extend an additional thank you to everyone who participated in the silent auction to support these great clubs!
This year’s winner of the Orville Yanke award was none other than John Kolk, who has consistently put himself at the forefront of soil conservation efforts at his family farm in southern Alberta.
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John Kolk (left) receives the Orville Yanke award from George Lubberts at the Farming Smarter 2024 Conference & Trade Show! |
Feb 14 - Love (of Agriculture) is in the Air!
To kick off the first day of the conference, our keynote speaker Robert Andjelic, of Andjelic Land Inc., and John Kolk sat down for a chat. They discussed Robert’s journey through life and how he became Canada’s largest farmland holder. Robert shared insight into the value of farmland, how he works with his tenants to help them maximize the land, and the direction he believes farmland will take in the future.
Next Ken Coles, Farming Smarter executive director, took the audience on a journey of his travels around the world as part of a Nuffield scholarship. Over the past year, Ken visited farms and operations in Europe, Africa, eastern Canada and New Zealand to identify opportunities to improve agriculture back home. This trip showed Ken that the innovation model needs to change before we start to see change – and he shared his ideas on this topic before sending us to our first tradeshow break of the day.
Following the break, Carlo Van Herk, Farming Smarter Field Operations Team Lead, gave his first conference presentation to recap findings and insight from the ARD Strip Till project. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Applied Research and Development grant funded this project through Lethbridge College. It explored the advantages of different row spacings and tillage systems in canola fields to identify the best practice for southern Alberta growers.
Before lunch, Dan Johnson, University of Lethbridge professor, used his unique grasshopper expertise to provide better control of pest populations. While there are many options for farmers to control pest populations, they may overlook better, hands-off strategies. Dan highlighted the natural means producers can use to keep grasshopper populations from exploding and becoming a problem for Alberta.
After lunch, Mike Gretzinger, Farming Smarter Agronomy Research Team Lead, brought a wealth of knowledge from completed novel crops studies to the audience. Over the past decade, Mike researched a variety of novel crops in fields across southern Alberta. He highlighted the blunders and boons of novel crops and showcased that although the crop may survive, there are important industry factors that must be met to make it a profitable option for growers.
Lewis Baarda, Farming Smarter Field-Tested Team Lead, shared observations and results from his field-scale irrigated agronomy studies with the audience. His research involved high value crops such as fresh peas, sugar beets, silage corn, and potatoes. These study results highlighted challenges producers will need to overcome and provided insight into how farmers and agronomists can achieve best results with these crops.
Following the afternoon break, Dr. Syama Chatterton from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, brought her love of pulses and legumes to the stage to share insight with farmers on how to fight soilborne pathogens before they become a problem! Her presentation explored the environmental factors that increase pathogen growth and highlighted the dangers of pathogens in improperly managed cover crop systems. Dr. Chatterton shared how producers can protect their farms and ways they can properly implement cover crop systems.
Finally, Ryan Barrett, Prince Edward Island Potato Board, flew in with spud-tacular wisdom on optimizing cover crops in potato rotations. He discussed ways that farmers could instill successful long-term potato rotations.
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Ryan Mercer (left) and Ken Coles (right) speak with Ken Vanden Dungen at the RBC trade show booth at the 2024 Conference & Trade Show. |
Feb 15 – Exciting Learning to Prepare for the Weekend
We kicked off Day 2 with knowledge from Brazil! Our second keynote speaker, Dr. Luis Prochnow -CEO of Plant Nutrition Science & Technology and a consultant for the Global Phosphorus Institute, started the day with updates and insight related to agricultural development in Brazil. Dr. Prochnow related these updates to how producers in southern Alberta can use the knowledge from Brazilian research around nitrogen and other nutrients.
Tom Jensen, professional agronomist and adjunct professor at University of Lethbridge, complemented Dr. Prochnow’s presentation by adding engaging information on advanced nitrogen fertilizer management. Tom took us into our morning break with a lot to think about regarding how we can improve the efficiency of fertilizer systems in southern Alberta.
Ashley Wagenaar, Farming Smarter Conservation Agronomist, introduced herself and her new program that aims to help farmers improve operations. Her goal with the program is to work with farmers to implement sustainable on-farm practices they want to use. Whether it’s a practice they’re experienced with or not, Ashley is dedicated to assisting them in improving their farm!
Next up Trevor Deering, Farming Smarter Commercial Innovation Team Lead, highlighted how his team works with industry members to test products, crops, and equipment to provide unbiased, third-party research. His research can verify claims and provide certainty and confidence to producers in southern Alberta.
Before lunch, Dr. Kwabena Nketia, University of Saskatchewan speakers, shared insight on his research into big data analytics. Kwabena discussed how this technology can help drive on-farm profitability by supplying producers with detailed field information iwith minimal involvement. He continued to describe how advancements in this field could improve farm performance and efficiency, especially with weed management.
Following our fantastic 4H lunch speakers, Dr. Bart Lardner, University of Saskatchewan, shared insight into how a simple adjustment of grazing intensity and duration can lead to large benefits. He specializes in studying how to improve grazing systems to synergize benefits between the cattle and crop.
Our final speaker Dr. Brian Jenks, North Dakota State University, joined us virtually to highlight updates in the fight against resistant kochia. Due to disrupted flights, he joined us over Zoom to share research observations into fighting the battle of attrition against this hardy weed.
Farming Smarter paid subscribers can revisit all these presentations in our website video library.
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Robert Andjelic speaking with John Kolk during the keynote speaker session on February 14 at the 2024 Conference and Trade Show |
