Western Fair District will be home to a new AgRobotics Challenge for Ontario high school students looking to solve real-world problems facing modern agriculture.
Developed in partnership with the Ontario Council for Technology Education (OCTE) and the Western Fair Association (WFA), this initiative highlights the dynamic intersection of agriculture, automation, and innovation, the groups said in a release.
The competition is part of a larger AgRobotics project that WFA is involved in through Innovation Farms Ontario, powered by FCC AgExpert, and with partners Haggerty AgRobotics and RHA Ventures, and further engages WFA’s strategic development of new agriculture education initiatives to honour its agricultural roots, while maintaining its commitment to be innovative for present and future generations.
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The idea for the competition came after a discussion with OCTE, a not-for-profit organization representing high school tech teachers from every school board – Catholic and Public – across Ontario.
Reg Ash, CEO of the Western Fair Association said in the release that the association knows the next stage in getting future generations involved in the career opportunities that exist in agriculture is to give them something with value and involvement.
“The idea of an AgRobotics Competition came about as a way to engage students and get them thinking about how the skills they are learning today could be applicable for a future career in agriculture. With less and less people growing up in and around farms, we want students to know that there are multiple opportunities that exist in technology with agriculture, and this competition allows us to showcase this.”
Christine German, executive director, Ontario Council for Technology Education said the AgRobotics Ontario Challenge “opens an exciting new pathway for students to explore the diverse and evolving career opportunities in the agriculture sector. By engaging in authentic problem-solving with real community partners, students will see firsthand how their skills in technology, design, and innovation can directly contribute to solving modern agricultural challenges, helping to connect classroom learning with meaningful, future-focused careers.”
A Different Kind of Robotics Competition
Unlike traditional robotics competitions, this event emphasizes open-ended design, authentic problem-solving, and community engagement. Each participating team will identify a real agricultural issue in collaboration with a local community partner and use it as inspiration for their robot design.
Competition Timeline
The competition, which launches this week, will invite students in high school Technological Education programming, including specialty programs like the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM), to put together a competition team with a goal of approaching a community partner to solve a problem facing that partner using AgRobotic or AgTech technology.
Community Partner submissions will be due in late November, with six contestant schools being selected in early December. The successful contestants will then be given a design and build timeline from December to February and will be invited to Western Fair’s London Farm Show in early March to showcase their AgTech and AgRobotic solutions in action.
Robot kits for the competition are provided by technology sponsor Studica, whose support is helping make this new challenge possible.
Interested educators can visit www.innovationfarmson.ca/student-competition or email [email protected] for more information and to receive an information package when the competition launches.
