Government invests in precision agriculture to enhance competitiveness and efficiency

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 16, 2022 /CNW/ - Precision agriculture tools are helping farmers better manage their operations and become more efficient. These new types of technology are supporting farmers in their efforts to preserve valuable resources while providing more protection against diseases and insects. With the AgriInnovate program, under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Government of Canada is providing repayable contributions for projects that aim to accelerate the commercialization, adoption and/or demonstration of innovative products, technologies, processes or services that increase agri-sector competitiveness and sustainability.

Today, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau announced up to $875,000 to Ukko Agro Inc. to support the development of an analytics platform to aid in better controlling diseases and insects in various crops. This highly innovative platform would provide decision makers a up to seven days heads up on field-level spray recommendations to proactively manage risks to crops, improve food production sustainability, and increase yield.

This investment will help advance the cutting-edge technology that modern farm operations need to enhance efficiency and yields. By bringing more of this technology to the marketplace, agricultural technology companies such as Ukko Agro Inc. are ensuring Canada remains a leader in the precision agriculture market.

The Government of Canada remains committed to investing in innovative precision agriculture tools as a fundamental way to help the Canadian agricultural sector grow and remain competitive.

Quotes

"Canadian farmers rely on cutting-edge science and research to ensure the sustainable development of their businesses. Our commitment to funding the latest agricultural technologies helps them not only feed a growing population and protect the environment, but also grow. Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, we support projects that help strengthen the development of Canadian agriculture."
- The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

"The team at Ukko Agro is very thankful to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for supporting us in commercializing our predictive analytics platform, ForeSite. In addition to the government support, Ukko is actively working with other agri-businesses to integrate its predictive analytics capability with their farm management systems to help farmers make proactive agronomic and operational decisions. We look forward to working with our partners and the government to advance data-based decision making in agriculture."
- Ketan Kaushish, CEO, Ukko Agro Inc.

Quick Facts

• The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a $3 billion, five-year (2018-2023) investment by federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments to strengthen and grow Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector.
• Ukko Agro Inc. is an ag-tech company located in Toronto, Ontario. The company's objective is to bring field proven innovation in agriculture sciences from research labs to farmers in an easy to use, cost-effective way.

Additional Links

• AgriInnovate Program
• Canadian Agricultural Partnership
• Ukko Agro Inc.

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SOURCE Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada