EMILI’s Innovation Farms has become the second Manitoba “smart farm” to join a country-spanning data-sharing and learning network.
The Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative, launched in 2016 to accelerate digital technology in agriculture within the province, announced May 31 that it had joined the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network.
“We wanted Manitoba to be represented in those pan-Canadian projects to demonstrate and to include Manitoba’s regional differences … Manitoba’s unique characteristics,” said Jacqueline Keena, EMILI’s managing director.
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The Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network, led by Olds College in Alberta, is a web of research and testing farms that use data-collection tools and other technology to find efficiencies, do research and pilot new equipment and practices.
The network was launched in 2021 and, prior to this year, included the Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm and University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, both in Saskatchewan, and Lakeland College and Olds College in Alberta.
In early 2023, the Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives (a demonstration research farm north of Brandon) announced it had also joined the network, becoming the first Manitoba location.
“The network gives all members the opportunity for open communication and co-operation to leverage the full potential of digital technologies,” said Joy Agnew, vice-president of research at Olds College, in a May 31 news release.
“Together, we’re able to better access and apply innovative technologies and best practices that enhance productivity, reduce costs and increase profitability by sharing our knowledge and lessons learned.”
All farms in the network use the same type of sensors, weather stations and soil moisture probes, Keena noted. This allows sites to seamlessly share data.
For instance, three smart farms compared data from “in-field to out-of-boundary weather stations” at three network sites to evaluate how disease development varies in different zones, according to the network’s website.
EMILI’s Innovation Farms is based on Rutherford Farms, a working commercial farm and seed retailer near Gross Isle in central Manitoba. It officially launched in October.
Besides data-collecting sensors, the site includes space for testing and validating new agriculture technology.
This year, Innovation Farms is hosting 20 projects, Keena said. These include seed-treatment validation and testing software meant to visually identify herbicide-resistant weeds.
