Grant: College and Community Innovation Program

The Olds College Smart Farm (OCSF), established in 2018, provides a leading edge learning environment for innovators, students and lifelong learners and is a living lab for hands-on learning, applied research, and product validation. It is also a place for innovation, demonstration and scaling of smart connected agriculture technology, allowing the realization of metrics related to profitability, productivity, sustainability, and traceability. The goal of the proposed Smart Agriculture Applied Research Program is to address the gaps and remove roadblocks related to agriculture technology development and data utilization for broad-acre, dryland cropping systems typical in western Canada. This will be accomplished by building a true agriculture innovation ecosystem while executing a series of industry-driven but college-led applied research projects at a field or sub-field scale over several years, accounting for or controlling as many variables that affect crop performance as possible. One key outcome of the applied research program will be independent, unbiased information for agricultural producers, agronomists, and other stakeholders on the functionality and value of agriculture technologies and processes. Local companies and small to medium sized enterprises (SME's) in the agriculture technology sector will benefit from access to subject matter experts, a purpose built network of sensors and data collection systems, and timely research to help them be first to market. Going beyond simple demonstration, the OCSF applied research team will help companies understand the gaps in their technology and how to optimize to best meet the needs end-users. In addition to providing technical support to businesses, Olds College is uniquely positioned to provide support to innovators and young entrepreneurs by providing them with access to entrepreneurial coaching and helping them navigate the process to find and secure funding for business plan development, prototype development, and product or process validation.