The next wave of Canadian agricultural technology pioneers was recognized at the official opening of Ag In Motion 2023, highlighting the continuing achievements of creators who find new ways to make farming better.
“Innovation is sewn into the fabric of our industry, as is perseverance through hard times, resilience over obstacles and the unwavering belief that a solution just has to work,” said Richelle Andreas, chief executive officer of S3 Group shortly before the winners of the AIM23 Innovations Program were announced July 17.
Cor Lodder, chair of Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada, said the awards recognize the long tradition of good ideas coming out of Canada’s farm country and becoming global successes.
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“When it comes to manufacturing, Canadian manufacturers lead the way,” said Lodder.
Placing the innovation awards at the very opening of AIM is a deliberate attempt to underline the three-day show’s focus on what’s “the new new, the novel and the noteworthy” in Canadian farming production technology, said show boss Rob O’Connor.
Ag in Motion held its first show in 2015 with 200 exhibitors and has now grown to 580. Thousands of farmers attend each of the three days, taking in crop plots from dozens of companies, checking out industry-backed research projects on the Discovery Farm, witnessing technology demonstrations in the show’s fields and talking with fellow producers from across Canada and outside of Canada.
Canada’s success as an agricultural technology creator is often the success of dogged developers and entrepreneurs in unlikely places in believing they might have solved a problem farmers are facing.
That’s true of new digital combine-settings technology produced by ScherGain, which was one of the five winners of the awards.
“For us it started in a place called Wilkie,” said Aqueena Clennett.
“We’re really excited to start helping farmers on a global scale.”
Agricultural innovations now cover a wider field of concerns, with new pressures on agriculture providing new challenges for farmers but also new opportunities for solution-providers to create something innovative.
“At Taurus, what we look for when we’re taking on new clients to represent is, is it sustainable, is it innovative, and does it economically make sense for farmers, and is it agronomically superior,” said Megan Madden, speaking for the company, another innovations award winner.
Winning the awards is a coup for any company trying to stand out in the competitive realm of ag tech innovation and the ceaseless struggle to earn farmers’ support.
