By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday August 11, 2022

Aug 11, 2022 | 9:37 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — Olds College and Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) have created a formal partnership.

AFSC will provide support for applied research activities on the Olds College Smart Farm.

Olds College associate vice president of applied research Dr. Joy Agnew said this is a five-year arrangement with AFSC committing to up to $100,000 a year.

Alberta Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development Nate Horner said he is pleased to see the growing partnership between AFSC and Olds College.

“Smart investments and partnerships like this help solidify the province’s agricultural research and technology leadership,” Horner said. “We are looking to the producers and processors driving innovation in agriculture to lead Alberta’s economic recovery.”

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Olds College and AFSC are already collaborating on three new projects including hail damage classification using drones, analyzing soil moisture probe measurements for moisture deficiency, and exploring soil moisture, weather, and forage biomass relationships.

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Taiwan-based Foxconn said it will build driverless electric tractors at its Lordstown, Ohio, facility starting in early 2023.

The agreement with California-based Monarch Tractor is the first manufacturing contract Foxconn has entered since purchasing the Ohio facility that was formerly a General Motors Assembly plant last year.

Production for Monarch’s battery powered MK-V series tractor is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023.

The company made the announcement as machinery manufacturers Deere & Co and AGCO have said they are looking at the electric vehicle market as the U.S. agriculture industry shifts to smart farming.

Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and is best known for assembling the Apple iPhone.

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Canadian aid agencies are warning that the world food crisis, made worse by the war in Ukraine, is leading to a rise in underage girls being forced into marriage.

Plan International Canada said it has seen a worrying increase in the number of teenage girls in the developing world being forced into marriage because their families cannot afford to feed them.

The agency said 12 million girls under the age of 18 become child brides each year, forcing them to abandon school while putting their health at risk through early pregnancies.

It warns a 15 per cent decrease in child marriages over the past decade is now in reverse, with the problem acute in South Sudan, Niger, Mali, Chad and Bangladesh, a major importer of Ukrainian wheat.

Tanjina Mirza, chief programs officer at Plan International Canada, said the rise in food insecurity is exposing more girls to forced marriage and child labour to ease the burden on struggling families.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW