Hundreds of ag enthusiasts gathered together last week at the Precision Agriculture Conference to discuss the bright future for farmers all around Canada! The event, hosted by Farms.com, included everything precision agriculture during their two-day convention filled with speakers, panels, and networking.

For this year’s conference, Farms.com expanded their trade-show to provide more networking opportunities for agri-businesses and farm retailers. Discussion topics covered everything from how precision agriculture will impact productivity, smart ag’s new innovations and trends, and exporting your farm’s success abroad. The main takeaway of the conference was that farmers need to value transparency, trust, and collaboration when it comes to sharing data and innovation to successfully push Canada’s agriculture sector forward.

The agriculture sector is a crucial piece of Canada’s economy, and CENGN is taking its stake! We believe that connecting the innovations of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector with the already vibrant and powerful agricultural industry can super charge Canada’s farming revenue, efficiency, and environmental friendliness. The Canadian agriculture industry accounts for $110B of Canada’s annual GDP and employs over 2.3M employees – that’s 1 in 8 jobs in Canada! The success of this sector has a colossal impact on the lives of all Canadians, and CENGN is already working on projects to validate technology that improves the way agriculture works.

Ukko Agro’s Pest Prediction Model is the star of one of CENGN’s recent successful smart agriculture projects. The Pest Prediction Model processes data collected directly from on-field sensors and alerting farmers when it predicts future pest and disease attacks. It then suggests to farmers the optimum type and amount of pesticide to spray on the crops. The goal of the model is to help save farming expenses by giving them the information needed to more reliably grow food, combat pests, and efficiently use pesticide.

Ukko Agro leveraged the CENGN Infrastructure to measure the performance of using their solution at scale. With the testing and validation of their Pest Prediction Model, the growing business has continued its successful path to market. Ukko Agro’s co-Founder and CEO, Ketan Kaushish, joined us at the CENGN Summit this year to discuss his solution.  Watch his 4-minute product showcase at the Summit in the video below.

During the event, Ketan participated in a very special panel called ‘High-Yield Innovation – How Ontario’s Advanced Technology Platform Can Benefit the Ag Sector’. This session highlighted the many stellar solutions being developed with networking, AI, and machine learning to improve farming through technology.

This panel is part of a series of sessions discussing the important work being carried out by the Next Generation Network Program (NGNP), under the Ontario Government’s Advanced Technology Platform (ATP).  Under the NGNP, a program that is jointly partnered by the Ontario Centre of Excellence (OCE) and CENGN, our organization has expanded its capabilities and accessibility across the province. It also has provided allowed CENGN to focus on enabling traditional sectors, like agriculture, mining and rural, to continue to flourish along with advancements in connective technology.

Congratulations to Farms.com for a successful Precision Agriculture Conference! We are sure attendees left with new tactics to take on the exciting changes in the industry.

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About the Author

CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, drives technology innovation and industry growth through our testbed, technical expertise, talent development, and partner ecosystem. Through our projects, CENGN enables small and medium Canadian Enterprises to test and validate promising technologies, removing barriers to product commercialization and accelerating market growth.

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