Engineer Returns to Alberta Foothills to Farm
04 September 2023
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You could say Lynn Bishop never really quit farming. He just took a long enough break so he could come back and start farming with the land and machinery he wanted.
As a teenager, Lynn said farewell to the cows, the chickens, the stubby sparse crops, the mountains and five siblings at the family farm his grandfather homesteaded in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Glenwood, Alberta. It wasn’t long until he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and started a waste recycling business on the outskirts of Alberta’s capital. In time, his venture, Laidlaw Waste and Recycling, became the largest company of its kind in Canada.
Then, he sold the business, cashed out and went back to Glenwood, ready for a second career: farming. He bought back the land he was raised on, as well as additional parcels. “We farm 5,050 acres today,” says Lynn. “My goal was to build a family heritage farm that could be passed down.”
Along the way, he built a farmhouse, constructed new storage facilities and purchased a full set of new machinery.
Lynn’s son, Mike, left a teaching job to join Lynn full time on the farm in 2008. While Lynn manages the overall farm, Mike is involved in every operation and handles the major equipment. Lynn and a seasonal helper, Ben, keep the supplies and parts rolling with help from Stacey, Lynn’s wife.
Equipment upgrades
The Bishops have a long-standing, relationship with their New Holland dealer to service and update their complete line of machinery.
“I like to rotate every three years and keep ourselves in new models. That keeps the machines in warranty,” Lynn says. “I’d sooner pay the depreciation than maintenance. We’ve done that for 20 years, and it’s been an excellent strategy for us. You get the latest models and the newest updates.”
In 2022, the Bishops upgraded their tractor fleet with a 320-hp Genesis® T8.320 with PLM Intelligence™ tractor, complete with the IntelliView™ 12 display and Auto Command™ CVT transmission. Two new CR8.90 Revelation combines with IntelliSense™ automation arrived in time for the harvest.
“These combines have total automation through all the settings,” Lynn says. “They will speed up or slow down, change rotor speeds and adjust rotor vanes and sieves all on the go as it feeds the crop through the combine. They have cameras, too, that view and automatically adjust the combine settings.” The automation results in excellent throughput with minimal grain loss.
Mike’s excitement about the combines is focused on New Holland’s Precision Land Management (PLM™) technology.
“2022 was our pilot year for precision technology. Our combines have PLM and record all the yield data. When we log our data into New Holland’s precision system, we are able to see exactly where we need to pay attention to details. I can see where we were low in yield at harvest and where we could adjust the next season’s planting. The goal is to get that translated from the combine to the seeder to more precisely implement or adjust fertilizer strategies. We’re excited about having PLM technology at our fingertips and taking the guesswork out of seeding.”
New seeding system
In the spring of 2023, their newest equipment, an 80-foot New Holland P2060 air hoe drill and a Flexi-Coil® P4950 tow-behind, variable-rate air cart with four tanks and a 950-bushel capacity rolled onto the Bishop yard.
“It was nearly identical to our previous systems, but with a couple of upgrades,” Mike says. “There are scales on the new cart and there’s a new tank agitator.”
“We started seeding on April 25 and we finished on May 20,” Mike says. “We had good moisture in the ground. In fact, it was a little too wet so we really couldn’t start seeding until the end of April. We seeded about 2,200 acres of spring wheat, about 1,400 acres of barley and maybe 1,500 acres of canola.”
The scale system is one new feature Mike and his father appreciate on their new P4950 air cart. Now, each of the four tanks has a scale.
“You know exactly how much you’re putting in and exactly how much you’re taking out. It’s particularly nice when you’re finishing a field or finishing a crop,” Mike says. “Before, it was kind of guesswork. You didn’t know exactly how much you were putting in. With the scale, you know exactly how much you can seed with what you have left.”
The remaining supply is displayed on both sides of the cart and registers in the tractor cab. “It’s very handy to have, for sure.” For the system operator and his team, the scale is a real time saver and worry lifter.
“When we were getting close to empty, the scales showed us exactly how many acres of supply was left in each tank,” Mike says. “When a tank was low, we’d call Ben on the fertilizer truck and he would bring the truck out to me, then we’d fill it up. The same for seed. When we were seeding in Glenwood, it was a half-hour one-way trip for seed, so the scale is a great thing to have. It was very accurate, and we trusted it.”
Agitation systems for each tank to prevent bridging of seed or fertilizer also improved. “We’ve had some problems in the past with bridging, so this is a nice feature to level out the product in the tank,” Mike says.
Near the bottom of each tank, Mike explains, a small motor is attached to a rod that constantly rotates making sure product is flowing to the meters. A gap never develops between the meter at the bottom and the product above.
After 20 years of regular swaps for new lines of New Holland machinery, Mike plans to follow in his father’s tracks.
“We usually try to keep our equipment updated for two reasons,” he says. “We eliminate downtime, plus we have the newest and greatest technology to save ourselves input costs in the long run.”
But in addition to technology upgrades, Mike says one of the most important factors is that his New Holland dealership team is “Johnny-on-the-spot” whenever he needs help.
“Our dealer will come after hours if needed,” Mike says. “If a problem happens at night or on a weekend there is no issue with them coming out to get us going. Once, they took a piece off a new drill with the same specs and spent a couple of hours putting all that together again for us. Overall, our dealer is great!”
As a teenager, Lynn said farewell to the cows, the chickens, the stubby sparse crops, the mountains and five siblings at the family farm his grandfather homesteaded in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Glenwood, Alberta. It wasn’t long until he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and started a waste recycling business on the outskirts of Alberta’s capital. In time, his venture, Laidlaw Waste and Recycling, became the largest company of its kind in Canada.
Then, he sold the business, cashed out and went back to Glenwood, ready for a second career: farming. He bought back the land he was raised on, as well as additional parcels. “We farm 5,050 acres today,” says Lynn. “My goal was to build a family heritage farm that could be passed down.”
Along the way, he built a farmhouse, constructed new storage facilities and purchased a full set of new machinery.
Lynn’s son, Mike, left a teaching job to join Lynn full time on the farm in 2008. While Lynn manages the overall farm, Mike is involved in every operation and handles the major equipment. Lynn and a seasonal helper, Ben, keep the supplies and parts rolling with help from Stacey, Lynn’s wife.
Equipment upgrades
The Bishops have a long-standing, relationship with their New Holland dealer to service and update their complete line of machinery.
“I like to rotate every three years and keep ourselves in new models. That keeps the machines in warranty,” Lynn says. “I’d sooner pay the depreciation than maintenance. We’ve done that for 20 years, and it’s been an excellent strategy for us. You get the latest models and the newest updates.”
In 2022, the Bishops upgraded their tractor fleet with a 320-hp Genesis® T8.320 with PLM Intelligence™ tractor, complete with the IntelliView™ 12 display and Auto Command™ CVT transmission. Two new CR8.90 Revelation combines with IntelliSense™ automation arrived in time for the harvest.
“These combines have total automation through all the settings,” Lynn says. “They will speed up or slow down, change rotor speeds and adjust rotor vanes and sieves all on the go as it feeds the crop through the combine. They have cameras, too, that view and automatically adjust the combine settings.” The automation results in excellent throughput with minimal grain loss.
Mike’s excitement about the combines is focused on New Holland’s Precision Land Management (PLM™) technology.
“2022 was our pilot year for precision technology. Our combines have PLM and record all the yield data. When we log our data into New Holland’s precision system, we are able to see exactly where we need to pay attention to details. I can see where we were low in yield at harvest and where we could adjust the next season’s planting. The goal is to get that translated from the combine to the seeder to more precisely implement or adjust fertilizer strategies. We’re excited about having PLM technology at our fingertips and taking the guesswork out of seeding.”
New seeding system
In the spring of 2023, their newest equipment, an 80-foot New Holland P2060 air hoe drill and a Flexi-Coil® P4950 tow-behind, variable-rate air cart with four tanks and a 950-bushel capacity rolled onto the Bishop yard.
“It was nearly identical to our previous systems, but with a couple of upgrades,” Mike says. “There are scales on the new cart and there’s a new tank agitator.”
“We started seeding on April 25 and we finished on May 20,” Mike says. “We had good moisture in the ground. In fact, it was a little too wet so we really couldn’t start seeding until the end of April. We seeded about 2,200 acres of spring wheat, about 1,400 acres of barley and maybe 1,500 acres of canola.”
The scale system is one new feature Mike and his father appreciate on their new P4950 air cart. Now, each of the four tanks has a scale.
“You know exactly how much you’re putting in and exactly how much you’re taking out. It’s particularly nice when you’re finishing a field or finishing a crop,” Mike says. “Before, it was kind of guesswork. You didn’t know exactly how much you were putting in. With the scale, you know exactly how much you can seed with what you have left.”
The remaining supply is displayed on both sides of the cart and registers in the tractor cab. “It’s very handy to have, for sure.” For the system operator and his team, the scale is a real time saver and worry lifter.
“When we were getting close to empty, the scales showed us exactly how many acres of supply was left in each tank,” Mike says. “When a tank was low, we’d call Ben on the fertilizer truck and he would bring the truck out to me, then we’d fill it up. The same for seed. When we were seeding in Glenwood, it was a half-hour one-way trip for seed, so the scale is a great thing to have. It was very accurate, and we trusted it.”
Agitation systems for each tank to prevent bridging of seed or fertilizer also improved. “We’ve had some problems in the past with bridging, so this is a nice feature to level out the product in the tank,” Mike says.
Near the bottom of each tank, Mike explains, a small motor is attached to a rod that constantly rotates making sure product is flowing to the meters. A gap never develops between the meter at the bottom and the product above.
After 20 years of regular swaps for new lines of New Holland machinery, Mike plans to follow in his father’s tracks.
“We usually try to keep our equipment updated for two reasons,” he says. “We eliminate downtime, plus we have the newest and greatest technology to save ourselves input costs in the long run.”
But in addition to technology upgrades, Mike says one of the most important factors is that his New Holland dealership team is “Johnny-on-the-spot” whenever he needs help.
“Our dealer will come after hours if needed,” Mike says. “If a problem happens at night or on a weekend there is no issue with them coming out to get us going. Once, they took a piece off a new drill with the same specs and spent a couple of hours putting all that together again for us. Overall, our dealer is great!”
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