Ken Coles

Despite a wild week of weird weather, our ultra early seeded wheat and barley have started to emerge! These were seeded way back on January 13, 2026. We're excited to get into the field to kick off a fantastic growing season! Have you started your field work this year? #agriculture #farming #wheat #barley #Plant26

Thanks to Craig Lester and Rural Roots Canada for the coverage of this humbling award @FarmingSmarter Dr. Brian Beres honoured with Orville Yanke Award for advancing farmer-focused research - go.shr.lc/41nEri0 via @shareaholic

Farming Smarter is proud to kick off its 2026 season with a range of important agriculture research projects. loom.ly/Sa8-1R0

Farming Smarter Board of Directors elected - two fresh faces joining an experienced crop of agriculture experts. loom.ly/E-jR2i4

Thanks, Naveen Day, for stopping by to interview Ken about the increase to farmland values in Alberta. Check out his story on @BridgeCityNews tonight at 5 and 11!

Nitrogen prices are the highest they've been in a long time - what are you doing to combat these high prices? Our "Fert Curve" trials aim to maintain strong yields with reduced nitrogen rates! Read about the project: farmingsmarter.com/rewriting-the-… #fertilizer #nitrogen #farming

Our new potato planter arrived! 🥳 This second planter allows us to plant different varieties in each row or plot. It also allows different row spacing (30"-36") and different seed spacings giving us the opportunity to plant all different sizes of potatoes at all different rates. #potato #farmtech #agriculture #seeder #Plant26

Here's what you missed at the first session of our Pesticide Applicator Workshop. Registrations are still open for the second session next Wednesday, March 25! farmingsmarter.com/here-s-what-yo…

Agricultural Innovators: The “Right Research” with Lewis Baarda oldmanwatershed.ca/blog-posts/202…

Get ready to elevate your skills! 🎉 Our first Pesticide Applicator Workshop kicks off next week, March 18, and you won’t want to miss it. Register to earn your pesticide applicator license credits! loom.ly/I0frsF4 #agriculture #pesticide #training #workshop

Great summary by Richard Gray on the impact of AAFC Cuts. It means $$12 billion in lost capital value

One phone call in 2004 led to an unexpected career for Claudette Lacombe - after 22 years, she's ready to enjoy the harvest! A nomad at heart, she didn't expect to stay in the same place this long, but the people and opportunities made it hard to leave. farmingsmarter.com/farming-smarte…

Why do organic, agroecology, and regenerative ag all look so similar? Because they're built on the same foundation: pop ecology; notions about nature that feel intuitive but don't hold up to scrutiny. csanr.wsu.edu/pop-ecology/

Our @CanJPlantSci paper on the cost of insect damage each year to costs in Canada! 204 million dollars on average. We dug into the Western Forum archives for this estimate. @vivek5rivastava and Dr. Carcamo @FieldHeroes @AAFC_Canada #GCAggie canadianagronomist.ca/how-much-do-in…

Dr. Thierry Fonville shares observations and insights from four years of cover crop research at Farming Smarter at #FSC26 this morning. Our Saving Soils research, funded by @RBC Tech for Nature & @WestonFamilyFdn brings farmers the best management & termination practices for a compliment of cover crops in southern Alberta!

After our coffee break from @FarmersClimate, Mike Gretzinger tool the stage to introduce a new project at Farming Smarter - Modernizing Fertilizer Recommendation Curves in wheat, canola, silage corn, and potatoes. His team plans to determine if farmers in southern Alberta can reduce input rates of N without reducing their yields in this study!

Michael McGee from @BioenterpriseCA joined us at #FSC26 to share how important it is for farmers to have their voice heard in the innovation ecosystem across Canadian agriculture & how they can find their seat at the table!

Taking us into the final stretch of the day, @lewbaarda introduced us to a guest that's overstayed its welcome in the Prairies -- The Kochia Dilemma showed the rampant expansion of kochia in our region along with new control methods underway at Farming Smarter!

Closing the show today is @Agronomydoc! His career as a systems agronomist has brought an incredible impact to southern Alberta; to celebrate three decades of industry-changing work, Dr. Beres takes us on the journey of The Life of Brian at #FSC26!

Before we left, we announced this year's recipient of the Orville Yanke Award - @Agronomydoc!! The Orville Yanke award is a memorial award named in honour of one of southern Alberta’s earliest and most ardent soil conservation leaders & awarded annually to celebrate a farmer or researcher whose contributions have significantly impacted soil conservation research and extension in southern Alberta. Congratulations, Dr. Beres & on behalf of Farming Smarter - thank you for your dedication to agriculture and representing not only southern Alberta but Canadian agriculture on the global stage!