Revolutionizing communication in agriculture?

At its annual meeting being held in San Francisco, the Canola Council of Canada has announced a new agronomy communications program for growers. The council says the plan called Grow Canola 2.015 will enable farmers “to interact with virtual agronomists for immediate, customized information.” Nearly $2.5 million from the Canadian government and the canola industry over four years will pay for the plan, which they say will “revolutionize communication in agriculture.” The aim is to arm producers with Internet technology to help them produce the highest yield and best quality possible. It’s all part of the plan to reach the production goal of 15 million tonnes of canola by 2015. Pardon me for being a skeptic, but I don’t think communication is the answer to higher canola production. Producers can already email photos of canola plants to an industry expert for diagnosing a problem. And if there are bertha army worms or diamond back moth larvae affecting crops, there are lots of ways including email to get the information out to growers. Producers know how to grow canola and they know where to go when they have production questions. In my opinion, there’s no discernable technology gap in agronomic communications. I’m Kevin Hursh.