VIDEO: Automated weeder uses AI to manage weeds in vegetable crops

VIDEO: Automated weeder uses AI to manage weeds in vegetable crops

At the EIMA international agricultural machinery exhibition earlier this month, Ferrari Growtech had an impressive piece of equipment on the show floor weed control. Named the Twistweed, this automated weeder uses artificial intelligence to identify and remove weeds from between planted crops in the field. A camera on the Twistweed detects plants at 10 images/sec […] Read more

Photo: John Deere

US court cancels approvals for widely used dicamba weedkillers

EPA violated procedures mandating public input, judge rules

A U.S. court has nullified the government's latest approvals of certain agricultural weedkillers sold by Bayer, BASF and Syngenta, fueling uncertainty among farmers who spray the products on soybeans and cotton genetically engineered to resist them.

Photo: iStock

New herbicide for weed control in wheat registered

Batalium, a herbicide for the control of broad spectrum of grass and broadleaf weeds that limit the yield potential of winter, spring, and durum wheat, has been registered for use in Canada by UPL Corporation Ltd. The company said in a release Batalium combats weed-related losses across all soil zones. Its forumulation features four powerful […] Read more

Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO and founder, left, and Darrell Bailey, North American business development lead with Crop.zone.

VIDEO: Liquid helps electric weed killing machine

Crop.zone has partnered with John Deere on a new, wider machine for in-crop weed control

A German company tested its electric desiccation system on Canadian farms this year as it works to bring weed control using electricity to large-scale farms. Crop.zone is unique in that it combines an application of liquid to the plant at the front of the tractor and an electric shock at the back, which helps with […] Read more

Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO and founder, left, and Darrell Bailey, North American business development lead with Crop.zone.  Photo: John Greig

Agritechnica update: Give a big shock to weeds

Farmers are being pushed to find an alternative to desiccants to burn down crops, as companies are increasingly leery of herbicides approved close to harvest. People have been shocking weeds with electricity for 100 years, but the return on the electricity invested and the technology required to do so safely haven’t always worked. Crop.zone is […] Read more


Tour participants listen to Brett Israel explain the farm’s strategy of adding alfalfa to the rotation as a source of on-farm nitrogen for a following corn crop.

Well-chosen tillage part of organic family’s innovative crop system

Adding alfalfa to the rotation inspired the moldboard plow's return

Brett Israel of Drayton-area 3-Gen Organics shared his family’s recent experiences on how reintroducing the moldboard plow can be a winner for both yield and soil health on heavier-textured land. 3-Gen Organics hosted a farm tour Aug. 30 to show how prudent tillage with cover crops is working on their farm. It was co-hosted by […] Read more

File photo of palmer amaranth — the taller yellowish plants — infesting a U.S. cotton field. (Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Palmer amaranth pops back up in Ontario

Weed infamous in U.S. for multiple herbicide resistances

A single plant that showed up this summer on the edge of a southwestern Ontario cornfield is cause for concern among Canadian farmers, weed specialists warn. Writing Monday in the ag ministry’s Field Crop News, Ontario provincial weed management specialist Mike Cowbrough said the plant in question, found in Wellington County, is confirmed as palmer […] Read more

These different chaff samples are before and after they’ve passed through the Redekop seed control unit.

Herbicide resistance fight requires integrated seed management

‘You’re not going to spray your way out of this’

Seed control at harvest is not a golden ticket to tackle weeds resistant to glyphosate, fluroxypyr and dicamba, but it’s among a range of solutions needed to stem the tide, says Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher Breanne Tidemann. “You’re not going to spray your way out of this,” she said about herbicide resistance during her […] Read more


The laser weeding machine used by Kerr Farms in Chatham-Kent has 42 cameras under it, 30 of which are tied to lasers to pick out weeds down to one millimetre accuracy.

Slow burn: Weed control at 0.2 kilometres per hour

A laser weeder helps with weed control in high-value crops

Kerr Farms was presented with a challenge by one of the buyers for its conventional carrots: could they grow them organically? Nature’s Finest, a major Ontario supplier of root vegetables to supermarkets, had a request for more organic carrots from retailers. Kerr Farms already grew some crops organically, says Bob Kerr, but carrots proved a […] Read more

Neale Heinrich stands in front of the Redekop Seed Control Unit at its booth at Ag in Motion on July 18, 2023. (Braedyn Wozniak photo)

At Ag in Motion: Herbicide resistance fight needs integrated seed management

'Those seedlings we don’t manage to kill (are) probably the most herbicide-resistant'

Harvest weed-seed control takes aim at reducing herbicide-resistant weeds that western Canadian farmers find more and more every year. At the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show this week, field residue management manufacturer Redekop won the Innovations Award for Environmental Sustainability for its harvest Seed Control Unit, which destroys more than 95 per cent of […] Read more