Innovation Farms testing grounds to include potatoes

CTV’s Jamie Dowsett gets a closer look at Innovation Farms' new methods to improve potato crop yields.

A Manitoba research farm expanded its testing grounds last month to include potatoes.

Farm Credit Canada (FCC)’s Innovation Farms network, in partnership with agricultural technology accelerator EMILI, launched in 2022 to support the testing of new farming technologies.

Located on a seed farm in Grosse Isle spanning over 5,500 acres, Innovation Farms has expanded to include an 8,500-acre farm in MacGregor—with approximately 3,000 acres dedicated to potato production.

“We’re excited about it because, of course, potatoes are a significant crop here in Manitoba, high value as they get turned into French fries,” said Jacqueline Keena, managing director at EMILI.

“It’s going to allow us to test all sorts of new technologies relevant to potato production, potato storage, which is an incredibly important and high-value function, … as well as irrigation optimization of those crops.”

Tools being tested include a sensor-based storage monitoring technology developed by Cellar Insights and Agi3’s CropSentry and Ukko Agro’s ForeSite software, which collects data on growing conditions, per an FCC news release.

The multi-year partnership between FCC, a federal Crown corporation, and EMILI intends to accelerate the adoption of on-farm technologies, making farms more efficient.

“There’s all sorts of new technologies that we test out here: hardware, software, things that use AI, machine learning,” said Keena.

“It allows (farmers) to have a better understanding of their total farm operation and to a greater level of detail than they might otherwise be able to do.”

“Canadian producers can adopt technologies with confidence and de-risk that adoption by seeing how it works in real conditions,” said Chelsea Gray, Innovation Farms partnership manager at FCC.

Gray said Innovation Farms also provides innovators the opportunity to receive feedback from farmers so they can ensure they’re addressing the needs and challenges of producers.

-With files from CTV’s Jamie Dowsett