CAAIN
CAAIN
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, May 24, 2024 – The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) today disclosed the final three recipients of two funding competitions it held in 2023.
“In March, we revealed eight successful applicants to our two 2023 funding competitions,” said Darrell Petras, CAAIN’s CEO. “Those projects, in which we will invest about $4M, have a combined total value of roughly $12M. I am pleased to announce that we are putting aside another $1.8M to support these three additional initiatives, whose total value exceeds $6.6M. In other words, our 2023 calls for funding allowed us to identify 11 superb, innovative agtech advancements that will activate almost $13 million of private-sector investment.”
CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to focus its funding on technological advancements important to the agri-food sector. This announcement is further evidence of the organization’s commitment to supporting the development of technology needed to advance Canadian agriculture and primary food processing.
“Two of these projects applied to our 2023 Open Competition, and the third will be funded through our 2023 Livestock Innovation Program. What’s particularly gratifying,” added Mr. Petras. “Is that while the three teams are targeting completely different areas of the agri-food industry, they share two important elements. All will provide significant environmental benefits, and all of them will leverage Canadian artificial intelligence technology. These factors are part of a trend we’re seeing in the work we continue to support with the money entrusted to us by the Government of Canada.”
For more information on the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network, visit us online at caain.ca.
Click on the links below to find out more about the individual projects:
Led by Calgary’s Precision Livestock Diagnostics Ltd, and featuring the involvement of partners based in Alberta and Ontario, this project will focus on automation of barn control system adjustments, based on real-time IoT data and trend analysis of data records, to optimize the barn environment for animal welfare and productivity while reducing personnel-hours required to maintain optimal rearing environments.
Led by Toronto’s BH Frontier Solutions Inc. and featuring the involvement of partners from Ontario and Lagos, Nigeria (provides in-kind support only), this project seeks to develop, validate, and demonstrate an autonomous agricultural robot that can eradicate weeds with high-voltage electricity and data-driven precision agrochemical application. The electric weeding technology will be optimized to achieve efficiency and efficacy levels that compete with conventional herbicide weeding.
Led by Toronto’s Ukko Agro, and featuring the involvement of partners based in Saskatchewan and Quebec, this project will combine knowledge from agricultural science, data science, and AI to develop a nitrogen recommendation algorithm to help Canadian growers improve nitrogen management. The desired outcome is the creation of a new data-driven technology that will benefit advanced research and decision-making in the agri-food sector.
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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.
| 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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