AGRICULTURE – like all other sectors – is changing fast, with new technologies and computing power now being employed to achieve things our grandparents wouldn’t believe. One example of these achievements is precision agriculture, and Saskatchewan-based SeedMaster has taken precision ag a step further on its evolutionary path by developing the DOT Power Platform. The DOT Power Platform is designed to handle a large variety of implements commonly used in agriculture, mining and construction. Its U-shaped frame directly loads implements so that they ‘become one’ with the machine. It can be run by remote control or in completely autonomous mode. DOT is the brainchild of SeedMaster founder Norbert Beaujot, and it’s one of a long line of innovations Beaujot has dreamed up and brought to reality over his long career. Both his background in farming and his edu- cation as an agricultural engineer at the University of Saskatchewan prepared him for this calling. “As a company, we’re always striving for more effi- ciencies and profitability at the farm level, and on that continuous quest, we’ve developed quite a few pieces of equipment,” Beaujot explains. “We’ve grown in preci- sion ag, in metering and everything else seeding-related. We were the first to build an 80-foot and then a 100-foot seeder, both with high capabilities in metering and other areas of operation.” Indeed, it was thinking about larger equipment that led Beaujot to come up with DOT. “I was thinking, how do we regain efficiencies that we lost in going bigger?” he recalls. “It was an evolution of thoughts about this in the beginning. Of course, we’re always hearing about autonomous cars and autonomous This new seeding innovation is one example of how new ideas are transforming precision ag. Treena Hein BECOMING ONE MACHINE 12 GERMINATION.CA MARCH 2018 WITH THE The DOT Power Platform is designed to handle a large variety of implements commonly used in agriculture.