Olds College of Agriculture & Technology is collaborating with the AIVA Network and GECOStrategic Weed Management to evaluate GECO’s advanced remote sensing and predictive weed mapping technologies on the Olds College Smart Farm.
The trial evaluates four distinct treatment strategies combining increased seeding rates and-or pre-seed herbicide applications in replicated blocks across a wheat field in 2026.The goal is to determine whether targeted adjustments to seed rates and-or pre-seed herbicide applications can further control weeds without inflating input costs across the entire field. These actions are executed as additional interventions on top of existing weed control management strategies.
Researchers are scouting each treatment block numerous times throughout the growing season to measure weed pressure of each treatment. Additionally, harvest yield data will be collected and analyzed to identify the treatment impact on yields.
These datasets will enable agronomic and economic comparisons between the four seed and pre-seed herbicide combination treatments.