Canada invests in autonomous agriculture

22-02-2022 | Smart farming | News

The “Standard Data Platform for Autonomous Agriculture” project is focused on bringing digital technologies and automation to the farm.

Canada’s so-called Digital Technology Supercluster, a federal program that was created in 2018, has announced an investment in what it calles “the world’s first interactive, operational planning software for autonomous agriculture”. This Standard Data Platform for Autonomous Agriculture project is focused on bringing digital technologies and automation to the farm. This is to help farmers be more efficient, increase their output, lower their costs, and have a positive impact on the environment.

Digital twin of a users’ farm

Led by Verge Ag in collaboration with Terramera, i-Open Group, Simon Fraser University and QuantoTech, this project is to create a digital twin of a users’ farm to support operational planning and decision-making. The platform will leverage new data sources to help farmers characterise their fields, crops, soil, and environmental factors and combine that with historical farm data to optimize planning, manage costs and maximize net returns.

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The platform will use analytic-ready data and digital tools that combine in-field activities, field terrain, crop and soil characterization and meteorological data to create a digital version of the farm and growing season. - Image: Digital Technology Supercluster

Total investment of $ 10,811,321

The project has a total investment of $ 10,811,321 with $ 6,465,377 invested by industry and $ 4,345,944 co-invested by the Digital Supercluster’s Technology Leadership Program.

This project is also supported by the Province of British Columbia through the StrongerBC Agritech Grant program, which focuses on strengthening BC’s economic recovery, agriculture sector and food security by supporting food producers and agritech innovators. Other investment support is being provided by Mitacs.

“Canadian farmers rely on cutting-edge science and research to sustainably grow their businesses. Scientific breakthroughs have led to new farming technologies and practices, provided farmers with better crop varieties, and helped protect crops and livestock from pests and diseases. This investment in new digital technologies and agri-food data analytics will help make our agricultural industry even stronger while protecting the environment and opening up new market opportunities for our agri-food businesses,” said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.