32 / SEEDWORLD.COM SEPTEMBER 2018 Sorter Explorer Robotics and Machine Learning for the Seed Industry Discover innovative new sorting solutions for corn, soybean and wheat CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION sales@qualysense.com +41 44 824 35 86 qualysense.com Sorter Explorer Increase Purity and Eliminate Discards Is your batch not meeting purity specs for germination, hybridity (selfs) and physical purity? Do you have to discard inventory because you cannot remove out of specs? Our experts can help you implement cus- tomized sorting solutions that will increase purity and release your product out the door! Every Kernel Counts Tired of inefficiencies during cleaning and sorting because you lose too many good seeds? Do you have to reclean and repass multiple times during peak season? At QualySense, every kernel counts! Our goal is to put more money in our customers’ pocket by reducing waste and increasing productivity. Better Inbred Lines with Less Cost How many thousands of seeds do you have to waste during testing before releasing a few right inbred lines to the next genera- tion? QSorter lets you enhance population size to come up with better inbred lines and reduces wet-chem, molecular testing and green housing by using targeted identifi- cation. How the QSorter Technology Works The proprietary and unique QSorter technology combines robotics and machine learning to measure multiple quality param- eters of each seed in just one pass at the speed of light, from 20 to 4,000 seeds per second. Seeds are first analyzed with 3D imaging and hyperspectral spectroscopy so that external and internal traits can be measured and then sorted with a 99% accuracy. Today, market leaders have adopted QualySense’s sorting solutions across 3 continents and are boosting efficien- cy in various fields, from R&D to production. “It’s easier on the equipment.” A peanola intercrop also offsets N depletion in the soil after canola. Planted alone, peas can leave 40 lbs. of N in the soil; pro- ducers can expect to see about half this after peanola. But the reduction in pest and disease pressure is perhaps the most fascinating result of intercropping peas and canola. In a 2017 study, Chalmers showed that pea crops planted alone could see 16 or more pea aphids per plant. In the peanola mixture, that figure dropped to two to four aphids per plant. Similarly, in a study in Hamiota, Man., Chalmers’ team found 18 percent pea disease incidence in monocropped pea versus 2 to 3 percent pea disease incidence on the intercropped peanola under the same environmental conditions. Chalmers says intercropping is best used as a pulse produc- tion system: the intercropping system actually doesn’t favor canola, but there are huge benefits for pea. “What we tell farmers is that if you’re good at growing canola, just grow canola,” he says. “Intercropping is a more economical way of growing peas per acre. You may grow fewer peas, but because the canola is there, your net income is greater than if you grow either crop separately — you’re overyielding.” Starting from Scratch For producers considering intercropping for the first time, Chalmers says it’s important to start small and get comfortable with the process. “Intercrops are a bit more finicky. There’s more to look after. It’s two crops on one field, which means twice the thinking power,” he says. They’re riskier, too: according to Colin Rosengren, a found- ing member of Three Farmers, a Saskatchewan-based business that manufactures camelina oil, it’s hard to get crop insurance on intercrop mixtures. In Saskatchewan, producers can get specialty crop insurance on a portion of their intercrops. But Rosengren, who intercrops perhaps three-quarters of his 6,000-acre opera- tion, says it isn’t worth it for him. In fact, he believes most producers who intercrop do not carry crop insurance at all. It’s a catch-22 for the industry, as Students count aphids in peas in a pea-canola crop. PHOTO: SCOTT CHALMERS