Supporting a Vital Yet Fragile Element of Crop Propagation
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, March 4, 2025 – The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) today unveiled the eighth in a series of 11 stories illustrating the success of its two 2023 funding calls.
CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and primary processors. That means supporting promising efforts with the potential to provide economic or environmental value. The featured stories demonstrate that CAAIN is doing just that, as does the $33M it is investing in 36 projects with a combined total value of roughly $100M.
“Among the most troubling issues associated with climate change,” explained Darrell Petras, CAAIN’s CEO, “Is the significant impact extreme weather and shrinking biodiversity are having on bee populations. At first glance that would not seem to be particularly important. After all, bees are tiny creatures. What impact could they have? In fact, they are nature’s great pollinators, responsible for a massive amount of crop propagation around the globe. The loss of our bee populations is having devastating consequences in terms of food security.”
“When we launched our 2023 Livestock Innovation Program,” continued Mr. Petras. “We assumed submissions would be related to dairy, beef, pork, and chicken farming. And we weren’t disappointed on that front. However, we were pleasantly surprised also to receive Nectar Technologies’ project, Prescriptive Beekeeping: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Automate the Management of a Beekeeping Operation to Maximize Honeybee Colony Survival Rates and Business Profitability. The title may be long but the concept, while brilliant and highly technical, is simple: Helping the migratory apiculture sector transition to a digital platform that will allow professional beekeepers to manage the thousands of hives they move from crop to crop throughout the growing season. Nectar’s partnership with Mirabel, Quebec’s Intermiel Inc. and Hay Lakes, Alberta-based Busy Bee Farm Ltd., demonstrates that bees are as important to agriculture in the prairies as they are to crop operations in Central Canada. We feel privileged to be contributing roughly a third of the project’s $2,276,554 total cost, knowing, as we do, how important the work is to the entire agriculture industry. The value of their efforts is evidenced by Nectar’s market share, which now exceeds 300,000 hives across North America.”
For more information, read the attached story or check it out online.
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About CAAIN
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. CAAIN drives collaborative agri-food technology research and innovation from coast to coast.
| Project Funding Inquiries Darrell Petras, P.Ag. CEO Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network darrell.petras@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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