Agriculture’s digital future on display at farm expo

SASKATOON The future of farming is on full display at the Ag in Motion exhibition as businesses show off what’s new in the agriculture industry, and what’s right around the corner.

The fourth annual expo featuring the cutting edge of farming technology takes place in Langham, Sask., until Thursday.

The event is like a small farming town that springs up on the side of Highway 16, complete with numbered streets and named avenues to help attendees find booths more easily. For the businesses at the exhibition, it’s all about offering technology that’s one step ahead of the rest.

One of the highlights of the live demonstrations is the fully autonomous and programmable tractor built by DOT Technology Corp., a sister company of Seedmaster.

“It’s an absolute game-changer,” said DOT’S field research manager, Owen Kinch. “The average age of the farmer now is over 50 years old, and even that demographic sees it as an opportunity to stay in the business longer.”

A farm’s mapping information can be uploaded into the DOT system, and the tractor will travel the farm with no supervision required.

Attachments like sprayers and seeders can lock on to the machine to perform a variety of tasks.

Because of the size of the field being used, the demonstration of DOT at Ag in Motion was remotecontrolled to switch out attachments, but the message was clear: The future of farming from the perspective of a lot of farming companies is digital and autonomous.

“This is the biggest thing to change farming ... since the first GPS. This is the next big thing,” said Timothy Pattison, with Pattison Liquid Systems. The company was one of the first to sign on to make implements for the DOT system.

Pattison — son of company president Rick Pattison, and the project lead for Pattison’s Dotcompatible implements — said the cost of the autonomous machines is comparable to buying standard equipment.

Not all of the new gear on display comes with a six-figure price tag. Digital farming company xarvio developed a “scouting app” that farmers can use to spot potential crop threats like weeds or diseases through analysis by artificial intelligence.

“The current way we do scouting is very manual,” xarvio business developer Warren Bills said. “What we thought we would do would be to use the most common device, which would be the smartphone ... and that allows any user at any experience level to move ahead with field scouting.”

Bills said if companies can continue to replace “the basics” using computerized systems, farmers will have more opportunities to focus their attention on more complex issues.