Precision Ag Conference Springfield, Illinois

Day 1


Last week Brent Nicol and I attended the infoag, precision ag conference in Springfield, Illinois. (www.infoag.org). Not being a seasoned traveller, we drove to Calgary and flew United to Chicago and then to Springfield (about 250km south of Chicago). Severe thunderstorms delayed flights in Chicago and the airport was packed, hot and humid! So after fourteen and half hours of travelling we stumbled into the hotel room and hit the sheets. Luckily the conference didn't start until 10am and we were able to get some sleep!

As the 10th Infoag conference started, I could tell that these folks had been at this for a while. They opened with the following awards:
1. Educator-Researcher Award
2. Entrepreneur-Advisor Award
3. Farmer Award
4. Legacy Award

So I'm thinking to myself that this is pretty cool and it was obvious to me that in this instance, the US must be way ahead of us than in Western Canada. If we were to run these same awards I could only think of two or three people even involved in precision ag education or research? There are certainly a few more involved in the entrepreneur and advisor area and there is growing number of farmers doing some good work. Legacy Award? Hmmmm.

So why have we been so slow to adopt? Can I assume the reason is that we don't get the same support for research and extension as that they do in the US? It seemed to me that every State University had a precision ag expert or two at the conference.

Anyway, after the awards and a short political rant on streamlining crop acreage reporting using precision ag, (hear that stats Canada?), the rest of the conference went straight to breakout sessions. Brent and I didn't see each other until supper and were still not able to catch all the sessions between the two of us! Over the next two days, infoag presented over 40 sessions divided into five subtopics:
-Regional Reports
-Advanced Topics
-Precision Ag 101
-Issues
-Sponsor Showcase

Wow! Ok, I was already a little overwhelmed just trying to decide which sessions I would attend!
I jumped into a session on variable rate seeding. What?! You can do something other than variable rate nitrogen? Dr. Ron Heiniger from North Carolina state taught us the importance of optimising sunlight interception through effective plant population in corn? Ok... I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore? What a minute? I was actually closer to Kansas than I've ever been. Then Tim Smith went on to telling the crowd how they use on farm research to optimizing seeding rates according to soil properties and nutrient releasing capability. Pretty cool stuff!

I then attended a session titled 4R Nutrient Stewardship which wasn't really anything new. Much of the talk focused on nutrient loading issues and that increasingly the finger is being pointed at agriculture. They mentioned that crop production is the major non-point source pollutant in the gulf of Mexico and that they are currently not regulated. Strong attempt to focus efforts on 4R strategies.

The afternoon kicked of with a dynamic talk from Dr. Paul Fixen of the International Plant Nutrition Institute on the Preparing for Intensification (ie more yield). He outlined the connection between human nutrition, carbon and land and that where all three intersect depends on soil and nutrient management. Intensification can be bad but could be mitigated with improved efficiencies (especially nitrogen). He also commented that there is a strong need for more systematic on farm research trials using precision ag tools.

I was then wowed with a presentation on Precision Irrigation. The technology now exists to vary water application according to soil texture, water holding capacity, soil type, topography, imagery and yield maps. This can be done in 6 degree pie slices or even per tower block. I couldn't help but think of the potential for this in southern Alberta's 1.5 million acres of irrigation! Awesome!

That ended the first day of talks and we spent some time exploring the trade show, meeting some people and enjoying a few refreshments! I'll have to admit that the trade show surprised me a little. I'd guess that 80% of the booths were software and data management related. I mentioned this to Jay Bruggencate of Farmer's Edge and he said yep, it's all about the data. Interesting!

Great day and I was pleasantly surprised that there were about 10 people from Alberta at the conference. Got a chance to meet Colin Bergstrom of Seven Island Ag in St.Albert who I had previously only met on twitter! We enjoyed and nice meal at a local watering hole and made it to bed by 1:00am! Not bad. Stay tuned for a recap of day 2!

Ken

2011 Field School = Success

Last week was my first field school as part of the Farming Smarter crew, I had attended the school before both in a student and presenter role, but being involved on the planning side of things was a total eye opener. When Ken asked me to take the lead on the planning side of things I was nervous to say the least and as the days of the school approached closer and closer my stress levels did begin to rise. Luckily with the help of the amazing team here at Farming Smarter, the 2011 Diagnostic Field School was the biggest and best on record. With approximately 260 attendees over the three days and with participants from three provinces and the US we are all very pleased with how this year’s Filed school went.

I just want to take the time to thank all of our sponsors, attendees, speakers and most importantly the crew at Farming Smarter for making the 2011 Diagnostic Field School the best one ever! And I look forward to helping raise the bar next year!

-Brent

Record Attendance at Field School

Yesterday marked the end of this year's Farming Smarter Field School. Farmers and Agronomists flocked to the event in record numbers with people travelling from as far as Manitoba. The weather was beautiful and a little on the hot side which helped melt the energy from the crowd by mid afternoon. Luckily, the staff came to the rescue with boxes of popsicles!

Approximately 260 attended the event over the three days with a whopping 110 on day 3. Popular modules include Hybrid Seed Production featuring leaf cutter beas, Winter Wheat and stripe rust, livee sprayer demos and a great lunch sponsored by UFA.

Hard to beleive it's over and planning has already started for next year! You can re-live the adventure at farmingsmarter.com where a full video of the day will posted in the months to come.

Thanks for coming!

Olympic gold medal

Picture of Catriona Le May Doan's Olympic gold medal from 2002.

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

FarmTech Banquet

What a way to close out day 2 of FarmTech!

Catriona Le May Doan was simply amazing. First of all, it has been a long time since I have seen a speaker get a standing ovation BEFORE they even say a word. She then proceed to take everyone down the trail of her career in speedskating and life. Looking around there were a lot of people that were on the verge of tears and a few that even let some go. Her talk on challenges, expectations and succsess was easily one of the best I have ever seen. Up until tonight I have always said that George Chuvalo and Lanny Macdonald were the two best speakers I have ever experienced, not anymore. Also getting a chance to meet Catriona and see all of her medals were pretty special moments.

Well done FarmTech organizing committee!

Farm Tech Day 2

We are now halfway through day 2 of FarmTech 2011 and here is what we have learned so far:

- Drew Lerner had some excellent comments in regards to the weather. Says don't look at it on so much of a year to year basis but look at the weather in 10 to 25 year cycles. It seems like we are in a cooling cycle right now. Also of note it was interesting to hear his take on "global warming" or "climate change" and how it may not be as bad as some scientists and media outlets are making it

- Merle Good taught us that there is an infinite number of ways to do succession planning. The key to whatever way you choose is communication.

- Shaun Haney gave a great talk about Social Media and its uses. It was neat to see a lot of the older farmers in the crowd.

- The Bayer CropScience Hall of Fame Party was a great time.

- Had an excellent chat with Earl Greenough with AgroTain International. He has some interesting results for what AgroTain can do for you.

- We are really looking forward to hearing from Catrina Le May Doan tonight at the Monsanto Banquet.

Time to get ready to go to more sessions!

FarmTech Adventures

Well we made it! We are at the last major conference of the winter (for us anyway) and the turnout is outstanding as usual. Having been sold out for a couple of weeks now, it always impresses me how the FarmTech group can sell that many tickets so fast (about 1250 people are here). This week has no shortage of things to do or people to see. Mike and are going to try to find the time to add in some key messages from each of the speakers we listen to.

I was impressed with the turnout and participation in the first ever FarmTech Jam session last night at the hotel. Kent Ericsson tried his hardest to get people up singing but there were no takers, he does do a pretty good Johnny Cash though! Also of note was the instrumental ability of Earl Greenough and Murray Hartman, Great Job guys!


The trip to FarmTech was not without its share of challenges. Mike and I are going to call it "Chris and Mike's Awesome Adventure" Everything was good up until we get to the west side of Edmonton, that is where things really turned against us. First thing that happened was because of all the construction on the Anthony Henday we missed our turn onto 100 Ave (I don't think there was even a sign) and by the time we realized it we were pretty much in St. Albert. So we turn off on a side road and try to turn around. Well this did not work out so well because the Toyota is less than spectacular in slightly less than perfect conditions (meaning it can get stuck on wet grass). So once we get pushed out by a few of the locals we are on our way to the hotel. Once we get to the hotel, Mike decides it was a great idea to lock the keys inside the truck. Then when we go to check into the hotel, my name was not in the registry. My heart sank but luckily we found out it was just under the wrong name. The nice people at the Mayfield somehow thought that was their fault and gave us a Jacuzzi suite, so in the end it all worked out!


I am impressed to see how many people are up here from southern Alberta.

Stay tuned.....