Farmers Want Smarter Equipment

The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) recently released results from a “vision session” with about 30 agriculture leaders from across Saskatchewan, Canada, representing producer groups, processors and manufacturers. The response was that participants want to see their machinery get “smarter” but not necessarily smart enough to take the wheel.

Among the suggestions topping the list were smarter machines, featuring a level of robotics allowing for 24/7 harvesting with fewer workers.

Participants also suggested smarter should take priority over bigger in machinery, meaning farm equipment should be made easier to operate and maintain, while continuing to improve efficiency. Farmers, they said, should have access to training and unbiased advice to deal with the increasing complexity of the industry. High-quality and standardized skills training should be made available, participants said, for what’s expected to be an emerging workforce of professional farm machinery operators.

Participants also want to see smarter crops, that is, new and improved varieties of high-margin crops, including genetically-engineered crops that provide for each other. One crop, for example, could be engineered to provide readily available nutrients or pesticides for the next crop up in a field’s rotation.

PAMI also recently reviewed the innovations of the past 35 years that have helped build the province’s grain and oilseed industry, and found the top choices to be innovations in air drills, tractors, sprayers and combines.