Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, November 12, 2024 – The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) today unveiled the fourth 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.
“Most of our funding applicants work with massive fields of canola, wheat, and other grains, livestock operations like beef or dairy farms, or horticulture facilities,” said Darrell Petras, CEO of CAAIN. “To date, we’ve seen few applicants from the fruit sector, despite the scope and scale of the industry, particularly in BC and Ontario. We were so pleased to receive Vivid Machines’ request to support Data-Driven Dormant Apple Tree Pruning and Tree Vigour Models to Improve Farm Outcomes, a $2.4M project to which CAAIN is contributing a little over $800,000. This project is providing technology that will revolutionise orchards by allowing farmers more time to manage the loads of individual trees, ensuring better outcomes in terms of consistency, colour, size, and yield.”
For more information, read the attached 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.
| 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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