The game is on…If you think you can do a pretty good job of growing canola, the Agri-Prize Challenge announced at this week’s Ag In Motion farm show near Saskatoon is right up your alley. Farmers across Canada and northern U.S. states are being urged to register for the challenge to see who can be the first to produce a 100 bushel/acre canola crop over the next three years. Aside from the bragging rights there is a pretty decent prize that goes with the challenge. The first person to produce 100 bushels of canola on 50 acres, or the person with the highest yield after the three-year term of the contest will win the use of a whole fleet of John Deere equipment for 100 hours of field work — that includes a tractor, air seeding system, field sprayer, swather and combine. Above are representatives of contest sponsors, from left, Jon Kennedy, president of Glacier Media, he’s pinning a 100 bushel contest pin on Rob Saik, president of Agri-Trend Agrology, while Glen Walsh, with John Deere looks on. For more information visit the contest website at: www.agriprize.com

Photo: Lee Hart

A product rep from New Leader, which demonstrated one of their dry fertilizer spreaders, showed onlookers how the spread patterns of new machines are much more consistent than what the previous generation of spreaders was capable of.

Photo: Scott Garvey

Field demonstration for the New Leader fertilizer spreader.

Photo: Lisa Guenther

This Kubota-branded silage baler on display at AIM near Saskatoon is one of the first to be shown in Western Canada wearing the company's brand name

Photo: Scott Garvey

Scott Garvey interviewing Eric Descarries, an automotive journalist, about the Toyota Tundra.

Photo: Lisa Guenther

Field editor Lisa Guenther and machinery editor Scott Garvey took a new Toyota pickup onto an off-road test track at the show to film footage for a new e-QuipTV episode.

Photo: Scott Garvey

“A few years ago Dennis McMorris got tired of packing buckets of grain to feed his 350 head of cattle on his farm near Balcarres, Sask. Seaching for “that better way” he eventually developed the Bovine Bucket feeding system which has gone through extensive research and development improvements over the years. The system includes an overhead hopper on one end of the feed auger. The computerized control panel can be set so the auger delivers and drops a measured among of grain out along the feed trough on whatever timing schedule the producer wants. The unit comes in whatever length needed for any size herd. McMorris says he set up the system on his farm so he could feed four different groups of cattle with one Bovine Bucket system — feed grain or ration to a herd of pregnant cows, for example, move them out, then open a gate and bring in a group of weaned calves and so on. The Bovine Bucket was one of the exhibitors at the first-ever Ag In Motion farm show this week near Saskatoon. Along with the Bovine Bucket there were other displays of livestock handling and management equipment. The livestock component of the outdoor farm show will be expanding in future years. For more information on the Bovine Bucket visit their website at: www.bovinebucket.ca

Photo: Lee Hart

The Ontario-based Salford Equipment kicked off the field demonstrations at the first-ever Ag In Motion farm show near Saskatoon this week, showing how this 30-foot wide vertical tillage tool can be used to work in crop residue and open up the soil. Salford which had its roots in developing tillage equipment for corn and soybean production in Eastern Canada has expanded it’s machinery line over the past 10 years for Western Canadian farming conditions. Vertical tillage equipment is one of their most popular products although the company has also expanded into seeding and fertilizer application systems. With 320 acres of prairie crop land to work with, the Ag In Motion farm show was an excellent venue for many of the major tractor and field equipment manufacturers to demonstrate how their products performed in the field.

Photo: Lee Hart

Bulls at the Bovine Buclet display.

Photo: Lisa Guenther

There is always something new out there…The Ag In Motion farm show near Saskatoon this week was the “Pot of Gold” in terms of discovering what is new or is coming down the pipeline with new farm machinery, production technology and advances in crop development. Above, Leeann Minogue, editor of Grainews interviews, centre, talks with Kent Gulash, district sales manager with Dow AgroSciences about new DAS canola varieties that are entering the market this year, as well as other leading hybrid varieties still in development. Looking on is Loralee Orr, DAS communications leader.

Photo: Leeann Minogue

Scott Garvey, machinery editor for Grainews magazine, photographing a UAV (drone) at an in-field demo on the grounds of at Ag in Motion.

Photo: Scott Garvey