Canada seen poised to lead world in food production if we can seize ‘fourth agricultural revolution’
By Naomi Powell.
Were the need to arise, Brian Tischler could simultaneously sip coffee in a café in Vienna, Austria while using his smartphone to steer a tractor across his 2,500-acre farm in Mannville, Alta.
Tischler, 55, is the inventor of AgOpenGPS, an open source software for autonomous tractors that has been downloaded thousands of times by farmers located in places as far afield as Lithuania, Africa and South America. It’s a contribution that has won accolades from media and industry associations alike.
Yet when it comes down to the business of farming, Tischler is quick to shrug off its importance.
“It hasn’t really improved productivity on the farm, and it hasn’t allowed me to relax because I still have to keep an eye on it,” he said. “It’s a lot harder than we think to apply technology to farming in a way that truly helps farmers. That’s the challenge.”
