A drone capture of our research plots.
Research Capacity
Download this pdf of this page Farming Smarter Research Capacity
Farming Smarter currently manages around 4,000 plots per season, split between Lethbridge, AB (dryland and irrigated) and Cypress County, AB (dryland). This allows for varying growing conditions. We have 15-20 Farming Smarter research trials funded by crop commissions and other granting organizations. We are experienced industry trainers and do product demonstrations for Canterra, Dow, DuPont, FMC, FP Genetics, NuFarm, SeCan, SeedNet and others.
Field Tested Program
Farming Smarter will assume a management role for organizing, executing and reporting field scale trials. It expects this service to intrigue anyone that wants to research something about growing crops in southern Alberta.
Site Characteristics:
Lethbridge AB
Clay loam soils, 4% OM, 7.8 avg pH, 30-100 lbs/ac background N
Medicine Hat AB
Sandy loam soils, 2% OM, 7.4 avg pH, 0-60 lbs/ac background N
Research Capabilities
Our core staff bring the expertise and experience to the planning, execution and reporting of all our research projects. In addition,we typically hire 4-6 university students each summer to ensure the field work takes place on time. These students often return for consecutive years. We also have internships and practicum students.
Equipment & People Capacity
Staff harvest corn with the 2013 Wintersteiger Classic combine with weight scale and corn header
Our equipment lineup allows us to do a wide variety of research from simple
variety trials to liquid fertilizer on variable row spacing with different openers.
Farming Smarter’s 4-row Monosem Vacuum Precision Planter
Seeding
We have a custom built air drill with dual Almaco cones and 4 boxes for an endless combination of seed and fertilizer configurations. The drill has a removable toolbar that can be fitted with our typical Pillar Laser disc-hoe openers or Stealth Pair row hoe openers. We have calibrated Zero-max gear boxes for precise and accurate control of seed and fertilizer rates. We setup all of our plots using RTK guidance where possible. We recently purchased a 4 row Monosem Vacuum Precision Planter for canola and corn studies, and built a two row corn planter for variety trials.
Field Work
VERIS, EM-38, greenseeker (NDVI), and a hail simulator. We also have closely established relationships for the use of drones and imagery in GIS applications.
Harvest
We have a 2013 Wintersteiger Classic combine (with weight scale and corn header), custom built biomass/grain dryer and NIR (protein machine).
Pesticide Application
Removable truck sprayer for larger blanket applications.
Our self-propelled bicycle pesticide sprayer insures even maintenance spraying
and our hand booms are calibrated and fitted with low drift nozzles for herbicide
trials. We have a removable quad sprayer and truck sprayer for larger blanket applications.
Team Expertise
Visit our Staff Directory to meet our powerhouse team.
Our research team has a wide range of expertise in herbicide trials, weed management, PGRs, liquid fertilizer and novel crops. Our extension team provides education through events, demonstration tours and media in all its forms.
