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Federal investment in greenhouse automation
November 26, 2018 By Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (edited)
Left to right: Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines; Shelley Martin, interim CEO, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre; Dr. Tania Humphrey, Chief Scientific Officer, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre; Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food; and Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre Today, Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced a federal investment of up to $5 million to the Automation Cluster under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
Led by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, the Automation Cluster will help address labour costs and availability through automation, artificial intelligence and precision agriculture technologies in the horticulture sector. Over the next five years, world-class researchers at Vineland will focus their research in three key areas:
Canada’s agricultural sector faces significant labour challenges and the greenhouse industry has the largest labour gap. It is estimated that labour shortages can cost the sector up to $1.5 billion in lost productivity and sales.
“This investment in automation will allow farms and greenhouses to work smarter and deliver higher quality jobs, ensuring they continue to meet the growing demand for top-quality products for Canadians and consumers around the world,” says MacAulay.
The Canadian greenhouse sector is also the largest and fastest growing segment of Canadian horticulture. This past year, Canadian greenhouse vegetable sales totalled over $1.4 billion, with over $900 million of sales in Ontario.
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