By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Mar 20, 2024 | 2:07 PM

BASF Digital Farming and Richardson International will be working together on an advanced agronomic platform.

Through the agreement, xarvio FIELD MANAGER will be added to Richardson’s agronomic advisory and digital agriculture services.

Richardson will extend the use of this technology to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

With xarvio FIELD MANAGER, Richardson’s agronomists will be able to offer growers more precise, field-specific crop management advice during the season.

This includes up-to-date information on plant growth stages and disease risks, with early risk alert notifications provided to protect crops from key diseases, such as Sclerotinia in Canola.

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Richardson agronomists will also be able to use xarvio FIELD MANAGER to generate tailored variable application maps for seeding, crop protection, and nutrition based on field specific data such as yield maps, soil maps, and 15 years of historic biomass imagery from satellite data.

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A sustainable agriculture research network has been created and will be co-ordinated by Dalhousie University.

The federal government is providing $1.9 million to the Common Ground Canada Network project led by Karen Foster, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Rural Futures for Atlantic Canada.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Network on Sustainable Agriculture in a Net-Zero Economy initiative will focus on the development of this new research network while also working to advance sustainable agricultural sectors and food systems to support a just transition to net-zero in Canada.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council President Ted Hewitt said research on sustainable agriculture, particularly within the social sciences and humanities, is key to developing productive agricultural practice that can also help protect the environment.

“This is why we are pleased to partner with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada in funding world-leading experts across our country who will help drive the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as agriculture expands to meet growing domestic and international demand,” Hewitt said.

Producers are already adopting no-till approaches, cover cropping and precision agriculture. The knowledge sharing network will help amplify the work already underway and increase adoption of these best practices.

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The winners of the Food Waste Reduction Challenge are focusing on business model solutions that can prevent or divert food waste at any point in the food chain, from farm to plate.

The two grand prize winners of the Business Models Streams, LOOP Mission and Still Good, will each receive $1.5 million to grow and scale their food waste solutions.

LOOP Mission is a Montreal-based circular economy company that creates products from food that would otherwise go to waste, like cold-pressed juice.

Based in Montreal, Still Good develops business solutions for companies to transform nutrient-rich by-products that would otherwise go to waste to new food products, through a holistic approach called eco-valuation. For example, Still Good developed technology to turn spent brewers’ grain from local microbreweries into flour which is high in protein, fibre, and essential minerals.

The Challenge, launched in November 2020, supports high-impact solutions to food waste in Canada. The Business Models Streams focus on prevention or diversion of food waste at any point in the food chain, from farm to plate.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @farmnewsNOW