Precision Agriculture Conference kicks off February 25

Feb 20, 2015

Financing, commodities and seeds among topics to be explored

As new technology is introduced into any marketplace, the industry it’s meant for and society must adapt.

Imagine the excitement when the invention of the wheel took place allowing people and goods to be moved faster than on foot.

Or in 1450 when German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable printing press, literature became more readily available as opposed to when scribes would write out the books manually.

When Thomas Edison produced the first commercial-grade incandescent light around 1879, it allowed people to work for longer periods of time and not rely solely on the sun.

Agriculture is not immune to technological advances, either. Imagine the delight when the transition was made from horses to tractors, allowing for work to be done in the fields longer and faster.

On February 25 and 26 at the Best Western Lamplighter in London, Ontario, Farms.com will celebrate technology and precision agriculture at the 2^nd annual Precision Agriculture Conference.

The theme for the conference is “Practical Pathways to Drive Real Results” and will feature industry experts, how-to sessions and farmers using precision ag practices who have seen positive results.

“The Precision Agriculture Conference is going to be bigger and better this year,” said Farms.com Executive Vice President Joe Dales. “We have a very strong roster of expert speakers and the leading companies exhibiting so the farmers and agronomists will be able to interact and ask questions of the very best from across North America.”

Visitors will be able to visit vendor booths, network with new contacts and listen to an array of speakers including Steve Denys, Vice President at Pride Seeds, Barry Raymer, owner of Practical Precision and Lisa Prassack, an agri-food innovation expert and data strategy consultant.

Precision Agriculture Conference

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.