EMILI and FCC renew Innovation Farms partnership
Photo Credit: David Lipnowski
EMILI is pleased to announce the renewal and enhancement of its partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) at Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert. This partnership will be celebrated during Manitoba 4R Day along with a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the recent opening of Innovation Farms Centre.
The partnership between EMILI and FCC was first established in 2022 to support strategic projects at Innovation Farms, a smart farm near Winnipeg that creates space for industry innovators and researchers to test, validate, and demonstrate agtech solutions to help producers maximize efficiency, profitability and sustainability in their on-farm practices.
“EMILI is grateful to FCC AgExpert for their visionary support,” said EMILI Managing Director Jacqueline Keena. “Since launching, we have partnered on close to 50 projects on Innovation Farms, welcomed hundreds of visitors, and opened an 8,500 square foot Innovation Farms Centre. FCC’s multi-year commitment allows us to collaborate on more projects to increase the development and adoption of on-farm technologies to effectively solve prairie issues at a prairie scale.”
Innovation Farms launched in 2022 to enable farmer-centric innovation, advance sustainable technologies and techniques, and increase digital agriculture skills and knowledge. With access to over 5,500 acres and more than a decade of historical farm data, EMILI is able to share a wealth of resources and information with collaborators to increase adoption of digital tools and bring innovative solutions from pre-commercial into the market.
“EMILI’s commitment to Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert is a testament to what can be accomplished when the agriculture industry comes together,” says Darren Baccus, FCC executive vice-president, agri-food, alliances, and FCC capital. “We can meet the challenges facing the agriculture industry by putting our energy and resources into projects that deliver results, like EMILI’s Innovation Farms. We are driving the future of agriculture and food by connecting the people, ideas and opportunities that harness the true potential of this industry.”
Canadian organizations and entrepreneurs, many of them located in the prairies, are recognized as world leaders in digital agriculture and are poised to play a major role in increasing the productivity and sustainability of our agricultural food systems. The continued success of Canadian agriculture relies on its ability to focus on adopting technology, attracting a skilled and diverse labour force, and embracing sustainability, all of which supports profitability on the farm.
With a limited number of harvests in their careers, producers need assurance that new technologies will optimize resources and increase productivity and sustainability on their farms. Innovation Farms provides that assurance.
“The technologies we are testing and validating at Innovation Farms allow us to support entrepreneurs and agtech innovators as they develop real-world digital agriculture solutions to give Canadian producers the edge in a quickly changing industry,” said Keena.
Through Innovation Farms, EMILI is able to provide the acres needed to advance innovation and research, getting new digital tools confidently into the hands of producers.
“We are thankful to FCC AgExpert for their ongoing commitment to this work,” said Keena. “Their support ensures we can continue to build a sustainable and economically resilient digital agriculture sector for generations to come.”
For more information or interviews, please contact:
Jacqueline Keena
Managing director, EMILI
Jill McAlister
Corporate Communication
Farm Credit Canada
306-540-4840
jill.mcalister@fcc.ca