News Research
Funding supports innovation in agriculture, bio-industry sectors

Alberta Innovates has invested more than $5 million in grant funding in the first year of the Agri-Food and Bio-industrial Innovation Program (ABIP) to support the work of post-secondary researchers and companies.

Eleven projects are underway this fall under the program, ranging from seeding enhancements in one project to preventing grain spoilage after harvest in another. On the bio-industrial side, innovators are developing new processes, technologies and value-added uses for agricultural crop residues.

The total value of the 11 projects is approximately $12.8 million. The difference comes from other funders, project partners or the recipients.

The goal of the program is to help harness digital technologies to make agricultural producers’ jobs easier, lower their input costs and reduce their environmental footprint.

Projects funded to date will benefit farmers and manufacturers. Examples include:

• Developing a made-in Alberta CO₂ sensor for grain bins to reduce crop loss.
• Using digital tech to better estimate wheat yields, and help farmers efficiently manage their harvest, storage and cash-flow.
• Using artificial intelligence to better identify lame cattle before transport to a feedlot.
• Developing new biodegradable seed coatings and uses for plant fibres.
• Fabricating and deploying a portable decorticator to process hemp straw into fibre that can be used in bio-based products.

Projects in this funding round also include a food processing innovation to apply advanced technology to beverage testing, and a process to develop a new cladding for the wood product and construction industries. See the backgrounder below for funding recipients, grant amounts and project descriptions.

ABIP remains open to new funding applications on a continuous basis.

This program is open to small and medium-sized enterprises, industry organizations, research and development organizations, post-secondary institutions and government research laboratories. Applicants don’t need to be based in Alberta, but their project must demonstrate clear benefits for the province. Successful applications can receive up to $500,000 in funding per project.