Weed-It Canada was presented with the Innovation Banner at Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon, Sask. Left to right: Travis Albrecht with Weed-It Canada, finalist Ag Vision co-owner Brad Reykdal, finalist Ground Truth Ag CEO Kyle Folk. (X/@WCCPS)

By Alice McFarlane

Crop Production Show Innovation Award

Weed-It Canada takes home top prize at the Crop Production Show Innovation Awards

Jan 20, 2026 | 4:49 PM

Each year, the Western Canadian Crop Production Show (WCCPS) recognizes agricultural innovations.

This year the Innovation Banner was presented to Weed-It Canada, a spot spraying weed control system.

Weed-It combines precision sensors and a smart digital platform for its spot spraying. Medicine Hat area farmer Travis Albrecht, who also works with the company, said the first thing is to find out what part of the province a grower is farming in.

“I’ve worked with the system enough and have seen it work from southern Alberta where I am all the way to Kinistino, Sask. for our furthest north system,” he said. “The biggest thing to me about spot spraying is you need to have the practical knowledge of how to run it in the environment that you farm in because the way I use a system in southeastern Alberta is totally different than the way the guys use the system in Kinistino.”

Albrecht said he works with the farmers to figure out a plan to set their sprayers first according to the climate.

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“Once I give them the basic parameters and then once they’ve sprayed with it half a season then they know how to set their sprayers and they’ve learned enough that they can do it on their own.”

Albrecht said he doesn’t need much information from the farmer to get started.

“I’ve been around Western Canada my whole life, so within five minutes of talking to a farmer, I can tell them about the basic pros for their system. And usually anywhere from, say, central provinces and south; they’re going to save a minimum of 50 per cent on their pre-burn and post-harvest. As you get further north, it might decrease a little bit, but we’ll see as high as up to 90 per cent savings in the south and probably an average of 40 to 50 per cent in the northern parts,” he said.

Albrecht said the biggest thing is the sprayer efficiency when you’re not filling it all the time. He said customers have reported saving almost 80,000 gallons of water on 10,000-acre farms because of fewer fills.

He said the system is easy to get used to.

“With the new monitor, it’s really user-friendly. My 69-year-old father had it figured out in five to 10 minutes. Everything is a step-by-step, on-screen guide. They actually have a YouTube university now, so that’s kind of nice too. You can just watch the videos online and then learn how to set the new monitor up. The portal is very user-friendly. It’s very, very simple to use.”

While the technology can seem to be cutting edge, Albrecht believes everyday farmers are becoming more interested.

“It’s going to be more mainstream as there’s more competition which is great. I always like to see competition because it strives for us to be better and be at the forefront. Weed-It has been around for 25 years, so they’ve been in the spot spray game for a long time,” he said. “Releasing this monitor, like I said, I believe we’re at the forefront, way ahead of everybody again now with the accuracy that we bring to the table.”

Albrecht said while potential cost savings are enticing, that’s not why they developed the product.

“The reason I imported it was for weed resistance and overall soil health, and that’s what I’m still focusing our sales on. To only put chemical where you need it, not everywhere. The savings are a bonus, and the sprayer’s efficiency is a bonus, too. It makes it easier for farmers to afford it. But I do believe it can be used as a soil health tool going forward and to help reduce MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits) in the seeds that we’re trying to export,” he added.

Albrecht said the company installs the product and brings it back to the customer. They are then trained until they’re comfortable to run the system on their own.

The judging for the Innovation Award was conducted by a group of farmers.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com