Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, June 8th, 2023 – The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) today unveiled the eighth story of a nine-part series highlighting results of the AgTech research & innovation projects it has funded during its first two-and-a-half years of formal operations.
CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agriculture producers and primary processors. That means supporting promising efforts with the potential to provide economic or environmental value. Today’s story demonstrates CAAIN is doing just that.
“Doing more with less has become something of a mantra for the agricultural sector,” explained Dr. Cornelia Kreplin, CAAIN’s Interim CEO. “That means greater efficiency, which in turn means increasing production while relying on fewer inputs, less arable land and clean water, and a dwindling pool of unskilled labour. Automation will play a major role in solving some of these issues, which emphasizes the importance of the project whose story we are telling today.”
Agricultural Autonomous Controls Framework represents one of CAAIN’s largest single investments, requiring a contribution of $3,305,866 towards the project’s $9,670,255 total cost. This was appropriate, given the scope and scale of the work demanded of JCA Technologies and its partners. In fact, JCA’s engineers believe the progress they have made places the Winnipeg-based company firmly at the forefront of the autonomous agricultural equipment sector, and positions their hometown as a potential future global AgTech development hub. The results to date have certainly been impressive, allowing one to believe that this truly could be the start of great things to come.
For more information, read the story online.
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The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) is a not-for-profit company launched in July 2019 with funding of $49.5‑million from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, and assistance from Alberta Innovates in the form of significant in-kind contributions. CAAIN drives collaborative agri-food technology research and innovation from coast to coast by performing three core functions. First, it supports the development of promising solutions to important challenges facing producers and primary food processors. Second, it is building an online, member-based network connecting Canada’s agricultural and technology stakeholders. Third, CAAIN is developing a digital platform to link nationwide, production-specific networks of smart farms, which will collaborate to validate and demonstrate emerging technology in diverse locations across the country.
| Project Funding Inquiries Dr. Cornelia Kreplin Interim CEO Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network cornelia.kreplin@caain.ca |
Media Inquiries Eric Morin, CMP Manager, Communications and Marketing Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network 780.405.3742 | eric.morin@caain.ca |
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