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Government supports digital agriculture industry in Manitoba

The Government of Canada will invest almost $4 million in two projects to support innovation, skills development and growth in the digital agriculture industry in Manitoba.

Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), announced investments totalling $3,451,167 for two projects in the digital agriculture industry.

The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg) will receive $2,451,167 to work in partnership with Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative (EMILI) to promote machine learning and grow the digital agriculture industry in Manitoba. JCA Electronics will receive an investment of $1,000,000 to commercialize a tablet-based precision agriculture platform for farm operators to wirelessly manage implements for seeding, planting, and spraying applications.

Through these investments, UWinnipeg, EMILI, and JCA Electronics will become experts in digital agriculture, and a new digital tool will be commercialized. It is anticipated that the UWinnipeg project will lead partnerships, both between businesses and with academia, the creation of 180 Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) jobs, training for 100 HQPs, assistance to 165 small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the delivery of training sessions and two conferences to over 400 individuals.

JCA Electronics will see economic benefits that include 25 new HQP jobs, 50 non-HQP jobs, and an estimated $12,300,000 in new incremental sales by December 31, 2022.