Farms.com Corn Belt Crop Tour wrap-up event: Part I

Jul 15, 2015

Daryl Patterson of A&L talks about drones

The 4^th annual Farms.com US Corn Belt Crop Tour is over for another year and culminated with a wrap up event at the Penta Tillage manufacturing plant in Glencoe, Ontario.

The event, attended by nearly a hundred farmers, consisted of exhibitors, and speakers who shared their experiences about the tour’s findings and new technology being implemented in agriculture.

One of the technologies growing in popularity is the use of drones/UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles).

“Instead of manually controlling, you draw a box around the field with a Google image,” said Daryl Patterson, Marketing & Technology Manager with A&L Canada. “You tell it what camera you have in there and it plans (the route). You throw the plane in the air and it’s going to go and take pictures.”

The farmers can then use those images to make informed decisions about their farms including fertilizer application and yield potential.

While drones are a great tool for farmers to use on their farms, Transport Canada needs certain requirements to be met:

Special Flight Operating Certificates (SFOC) must be obtained
300-500 ft. altitude
Line of sight must be within 2km
No flying within 7km of an airport

The regulations are in place, but they’re not quite concrete yet.

“The paperwork can be a little daunting because there’s no template to follow,” Patterson said. “At first they make you jump through some hoops but they’re definitely working with us.”

Join the conversation and tell us if you use UAVs on your farm. What benefits have you seen from them? What have been some drawbacks?

Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.