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Preparing your sprayer for spring

Preparing your sprayer for spring

Early maintenance can help farmers spend more time in their fields

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Farmers will soon be taking their sprayers out of storage for the 2019 growing season.

By completing a thorough equipment inspection, farmers can ensure they spend more time in the field and less time performing maintenance, said Mark Burns, an application equipment marketing manager with Case IH.

“The first thing farmers might want to do is make sure any maintenance that wasn’t done in the fall is done now,” he told Farms.com. “That includes things like oil changes, replacing filters and servicing the hydraulic reservoir.”

From there, producers may want to check that rate controllers are set up properly.

“Growers will probably consider the rates they plan to apply, tank mixes and things like that,” Burns said. “They should also make sure all the data they need is available to them when they’re ready.”

Calibrating the sprayer to match what the rate controller reads is important, too.

“There can be a pretty big disparity between ground covered versus what’s been applied,” Burns said. “Ensuring all of that is calibrated properly can help farmers get accurate readings.”

Before running crop protection products through the sprayer, farmers can check for leaks using water.

“The last thing you want is a product leak,” Burns said. “That goes from the product tank all the way to the nozzle. You don’t want anything seeping out from any hose connections.

“Keeping with that, perform a catch test to make sure the output is matching what the control system thinks it’s applying.

Another factor that operators often overlook is the functionality of nozzle tips, Burns said.

“When farmers buy a new sprayer or take one out of storage, they just take the tips they used last year and put them on,” he said. “Tips are a wear item and certain products can be more abrasive than others. We want to make sure we’re getting proper patterns across all the tips.”


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The FCDC and AgSmart Bring Plant Breeding to a Wider Audience

Video: The FCDC and AgSmart Bring Plant Breeding to a Wider Audience

In the vast prairies of Alberta, Olds College’s Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) stands as a beacon of innovation and research in the agricultural world. The institution has become a key player in advancing agricultural technologies and practices. The FCDC’s commitment to applied research has driven them to seek effective means of disseminating their findings and creating a positive impact on the farming community.

One such avenue that aligns with their mission is AgSmart, an event dedicated to showcasing cutting-edge agricultural technologies. The coming together of the FCDC’s annual Field Day and Ag Smart has proved to be a natural fit, fostering a synergy that benefits both parties and propels the agriculture industry forward. The FCDC Field Day took part in conjunction with AgSmart for the first time this week on Aug. 1-2 in Olds, Alta. FCDC Program Director Kofi Agblor and Olds College VP of Development Todd Ormann sat down for an interview with Marc Zienkiewicz to discuss the significance of the two events taking part together and what the future holds.

The Intersection of Research and Technology The essence of the FCDC lies in its dedication to plant breeding and new seed varieties, particularly barley and triticale. While conducting research is essential, it becomes meaningful when its benefits are shared with the wider community. This is where AgSmart steps in, providing a key venue for the FCDC to showcase their research. This union between research and technology creates a holistic and enriching experience for farmers, ranchers, and industry professionals, the pair said.

Seeds as Technology For the FCDC, the partnership with AgSmart goes beyond mere event collaboration. It is about creating an environment that bridges the gap between seeds and smart technology, Ormann said. The college believes that for technology to truly revolutionize agriculture, it must begin with a strong foundation — high-quality seeds. As the saying goes, “it all starts with a seed.” To demonstrate this critical aspect, the collaboration aims to showcase the seed value chain as an integral part of the smartphone.

The Birth of a Powerful Alliance The idea of joining forces emerged when staff realized the potential synergy between AgSmart and the FCDC Field Day. With just a few days separating the two events, a proposal was put forward to merge them. The marketing and communications teams from both sides worked seamlessly to ensure the essence of both events remained intact, creating a powerful alliance that leverages the strengths of each, Agblor said.

Driving Advancements in Breeding For Agblor, the partnership with AgSmart has tremendous potential to drive advancements in breeding and other technology. With technologies like drones and imaging becoming integral to phenotyping, breeding is no longer confined to vast fields to assess thousands of plants manually. Instead, it benefits from the data-rich insights brought about by smart technologies. These advancements make breeding more efficient, precise, and instrumental in shaping the future of agriculture.

Overcoming Challenges Together While the partnership between Olds College and Ag Smart has been a resounding success, there are challenges on the horizon. Securing stable funding for long-term breeding initiatives is crucial to sustain progress. The college is committed to navigating these challenges and investing in agriculture’s future sustainably, Agblor said.

 

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