A Guelph start-up has developed a tool to help in the fight against COVID-19 using technology from two of its smart livestock monitoring applications. Virtual Studios founder Joel Sotomayor says their Tactical Response Against COVID-19 Epidemic (TRACE) solution can help maintain essential services and reduce disease spread by letting employers locate and isolate COVID-19 on […] Read more
Ontario company creates solution for COVID-19 monitoring
Farm biosecurity and traceability systems could monitor worker movement and reduce shutdowns
A helping hand for agriculture and food start-ups
The RH Accelerator aims to provide mentorship and to help fund new agriculture businesses
Throughout his career, Joe Dales has had a passion for innovation, agriculture and bringing new tools to farmers. He caught the entrepreneurial bug in the early days of the internet, creating what today is Farms.com. Now he’s putting his network and years of experience to work helping early stage entrepreneurs get their ideas off the […] Read more
Guelph students ‘hack the farm’ for innovative solutions
Students tackled agricultural issues ranging from improved food packaging to better crop yield predictions
An idea for better waste water management at a local brewery won top honours in the third annual Improve Life Challenge Hackathon at the University of Guelph on March 6. The theme for this year’s day-long event was Hack the Farm in a Climate of Change where teams of students worked with community partners to […] Read more
Plant growth boosted with water-based carbon dioxide
The Canadian system allows hoop-structure growers to use carbon dioxide as a growth enhancer
An Ontario company has patented technology to dissolve carbon dioxide into water and apply it to plants to make them grow faster while also reducing disease problems. Toronto-based CO2 GRO launched early in 2018 and has sold systems to growers of crops like lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cannabis and microgreens. Although many greenhouse growers are already […] Read more
Raising the bar on soil testing
SoilOptix maps show soil’s chemical and physical properties
A southwestern Ontario company has developed technology that goes far beyond traditional soil sampling to help growers make better soil management decisions. Tavistock-based SoilOptix’s system delivers high resolution top soil maps that detail in-field variability of soil’s chemical and physical properties. Why it matters: Rising costs and tight margins combined with growing societal pressure around […] Read more
Mushroom waste shown to provide extended food and drink shelf life
Canadian company is using a part of the mushroom that often is discarded, creating value for mushroom growers
A waste product from the mushroom industry is being put to use as a natural shelf-life extender for processed food products. New Brunswick-based food technology company Chinova Bioworks is using a dietary fibre and antioxidant extracted from white button mushrooms called chitosan to produce its trademarked product, Chiber. Why it matters: The stem of the […] Read more
Making better spraying decisions with low-cost, early fungal disease detection
Spornado is being tested across Canada, especially in higher value vegetable crops
It was a call from a client looking for a low-tech method for early detection of a fungal disease in potatoes that charted a new course for Toronto microbiology lab Sporometrics. The resulting innovation, Spornado Sampler, has been called the first reliable, early alert system for fungal crop diseases that’s available to farmers at an […] Read more
Federally licensed university abattoir upgraded
University of Guelph abattoir helps small research projects get processed
The University of Guelph is home to the only federally licensed university abattoir in Canada. The almost 50-year-old facility recently underwent a $2.5 million overhaul, re-opening last year as a modern meat science laboratory. Why it matters: Large commercial abattoirs find it difficult to accommodate small pilot projects and most smaller plants lack the necessary […] Read more
Robot automates hard-to-fill jobs in agriculture and turf
The RomeIO robot is being tested in many uses in agriculture where labour is scarce
A local start-up has developed a compact, rugged autonomous robot that can automate a wide range of agricultural tasks, like soil sensing, applying inputs, and harvest yield prediction for grapes. Korechi Innovations’ RoamIO features an expandable platform that is compatible with different functional attachments — similar to the DOT technology from western Canada —has a […] Read more
From bugs to vaccines, genomics to biopesticides
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s London research station touches farms from crops to livestock
Tucked away in a quiet residential neighbourhood in London, Ont., is a building where researchers delve into some of agriculture’s most pressing issues. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) London Research and Development Centre has scientists working on myriad projects, such as combatting new invasive pests threatening fruit crops, using insect meal as a protein […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
