Canada's 150th celebrated with agriculture technology - CBC.ca

A maple leaf was cut into a wheat field as part of a project by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada in celebration of the upcoming 150th anniversary of confederacy. (AAFC )

It will have been 150 years since Canada's confederacy in 1867 when 2017 rolls around. 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are celebrating the milestone through agriculture technology and an iconic symbol: the maple leaf.

The project used GPS technology to program a combine's route on a farm's durum wheat crop in Wilcox, Sask. The combine automatically calculated the route once the coordinates were input, allowing the operator to manage the operation hands-free.

The maple leaf was cut over 24 precise lines and covers 500 square metres. 

"With this level of precision, farmers are no longer wasting energy and time on overlapping cuts," said David Lee, of AAFC's geometrics division, in a news release. 

Technology used in the maple leaf combine allows farmers to check real-time stats and info on things like soil, weather, air quality or crop maturity. 

The technology also lets operators of the machinery know which lot of the crops need pesticides or other chemicals. 

As part of the project, a video showing Canada and Saskatchewan's multicultural background was commissioned.

The video shows various Saskatchewan residents as they talk about the history which brought them to the land and what it means as a country and people.

Wheat is Canada's largest crop and its single biggest export earner when it comes to agricultural products. 

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