IHARF Precision Farm - a Year in Review

Has it already been a year?

Last year at this time IHARF, the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation, and SSCA announced the joint precision farming venture on a half section of land just east of Indian Head, Saskatchewan. The farm, known as the Centre of Excellence for Precision Farming Research, has successfully completed its first crop/research year.

Previous farm management involved a cereal-fallow rotation and starting in 1998, the farm will be continuously cropped using direct seeding techniques. The farm has been divided into eight fields, all similar in size. The crop rotation sequence will be: canola-cereal-pea-wheat. Crops seeded in 1998 included Carneval peas, InVigor canola, AC Barrie spring wheat and CDC Teal spring wheat. In 1999, the crops will be canola-oat-pea-wheat. The same varieties will be used. The variety of oat is yet to be determined.

Since this was the first year for the precision farm project, a great deal of baseline information had to be collected. This included remote sensing and infra-red pictures, soil samples on the one acre grid according to a design established by Dr. Alan Moulin, AAFC Brandon, detailed digital elevation maps, as well as yield and economic data. Saskatchewan Water Corporation did a detailed map of the entire farm using an EM38 for surface and deep salinity. In the absence of salinity, which is the case here, it provides a measure of soil moisture and soil texture

The agreement between IHARF and SSCA is such that IHARF is responsible for overseeing and conducting the research part of the project, and SSCA will be involved in delivering the information and providing feedback from farmers.

The organizational structure that has been put in place to manage the Centre includes:

A Management Board that provides overall direction and is responsible for approving budget, proposals and communications strategies.
A Research Advisory Committee that establishes research priorities and protocols and develops funding proposals.
An Operations Committee that is responsible for the day to day management of the Centre.
Directors and Management from both IHARF and SSCA sit on the board and on the committees.

The Centre has attracted a number of high profile partners which provide equipment, chemicals, new technologies and expertise. These partners include Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Royal Bank, AgrEvo Canada Inc., Monsanto Canada Inc., Pattison Bros. Agro Ltd., Saskatchewan Agriculture & Food, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Simplot Canada Limited, Westco, Zeneca Agro, Markusson New Holland of Regina Ltd., Flexi-Coil Ltd. and New Holland North America.

One of the unique features of the Centre is that all Precision Farming research will be conducted on a farm scale basis. The present goal of the Centre is to find cost effective ways of assigning management units and from there vary inputs in order to derive the full economic potential of each management unit.

The vision for the Centre of Excellence for Precision Farming Research is as follows:

"We are a unique partnership of farmers, scientists, industry and government whose goal is to evaluate precision farming concepts on a farm size scale in an unbiased, practical and environmentally responsible manner for the benefit of all producers".

Both the board members and committee members are pleased with the first year activities and are presently working on many new initiatives for 1999. We will keep you informed in following issues. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the Precision Farm project you may contact:

Josef Boersch,

Farmer, IHARF Director

306-695-2693

Judy McKell,

Extension Agrologist,

306-695-4200

Doug McKell

Executive Manager,

SSCA

306-695-4234