New equipment boosts Farming Smarter research capacity by 25%

A capital investment in field equipment has transformed the agricultural research program at Farming Smarter in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Farming Smarter received $253,000 from the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) Accelerating Capacity Initiative in 2021 and purchased a Wintersteiger Flex plot seeder and Quantum Pro plot combine.

Since then, the research program has grown by 25%, new job opportunities have been created and plans for further expansion have been set in motion.

“The new equipment has been tremendously impactful,” says executive director Ken Coles. “Having the right equipment means we can do more state-of-the-art, world class research that helps farmers change the way they farm, and that’s our motto.”

Carlo Van Herk began working at Farming Smarter as a summer student and joined the team full-time when the new seeder and combine arrived. He now works as the field operations lead and is responsible for maintaining the equipment and overseeing research plots.

“The plot seeder is more electric than manual so it’s better able to adjust to field conditions and the combine also has a lot more settings that help us work with more specialty crops, such as camelina seed,” says Van Herk.

The addition of the new equipment means the team can run two seeders in the spring and two combines at harvest, which not only boosts productivity but also lessens operator stress if one has a minor breakdown.

Van Herk adds that the investment has also improved the summer student program because more time is now being spent training the students on equipment usage, maintenance and safety. They end the summer with a lot more equipment experience than in the past, he says. 

“Investment in capital is particularly important and it’s often difficult to find grants for not-for-profits to make capital purchases,” says Coles.

WGRF’s investment in equipment has allowed Farming Smarter to shift its focus to planning other capital projects that will advance the organization further.

Coles hopes to move to a larger site location and expand the research program to include potatoes in the near future.

“Southern Alberta is a pretty diverse and amazing agricultural environment to be in and now that there is an investment in irrigation expansion, it’s exciting.”

Farming Smarter is a non-profit research organization that drives innovation in agriculture by bridging ideas and people, conducting practical research and sharing unbiased knowledge.

The WGRF is a farmer-funded and farmer-directed non-profit organization investing in agricultural research that benefits western Canadian producers. To date, more than $240 million has been invested to support diverse crop research projects.

The WGRF has committed $32 million to the Accelerating Capacity Initiative to expand crop research capacity.

Photo Caption: Carlo Van Herk, field operations lead at Farming Smarter, uses the new Quantum Pro plot combine to harvest research trials more efficiently.