Talking Smart Agriculture with Joy Agnew and Lorna Baird from Olds College

Food production is essential. Full stop.

As demand for food and the urgency for sustainable crop and animal production increases, our need for better tools increases: artificially intelligent, mechanized, data-driven tools.

With this, however, come challenges:  how do we help get these, so called, "smart" tools into the hands of those who will be using them on the frontlines? And opportunities: how do we start to understand each farm is different and localized data will help to increase sustainable production?

In this episode, we talk with Joy Agnew and Lorna Baird from Olds College of Agriculture and Technology about smart farming, how the College uses its Smart Farm to support famers to use the tools, and how it teaches the next generation of food producers and entrepreneurs to use, develop and test these tools in the field.

We also talk about the Pan Canadian Smart Farm Network that's spreading across the country, with the various locations sharing data and learnings to increase overall knowledge, and the support the College provides entrepreneurs through its Centre for Innovation, as well as partnerships with Alberta's Regional Innovation Networks and the Technology Access Centres.

This is an inspiring episode.
Welcome to Shift.

Bios 

Joy Agnew

Joy grew up on a grain farm near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and earned her Ph.D. in Ag/Bio Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. At Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, Joy oversees the applied research portfolio and smart farm operations. 

Applied research at Olds College is focused on crop and livestock production with a specialty in environmental stewardship, technology integration and data utilization to improve productivity and sustainability of food production.  Joy also has a leadership role in the development of the College's Smart Ag Ecosystem, bringing together the academic programming, applied research, strategic partnerships, smart farm operations, and extension & communication activities to help the College meet its goal to be a leader in Smart Agriculture. In 2021, Joy was named one of Canada’s top 50 most influential people in Canadian Ag by Canadian Western Agribition.

Lorna Baird

Lorna is the Manager of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Olds College Centre for Innovation where she helps people with new business ideas and small to medium-sized businesses access networks of people, organizations and programs that can help them develop their entrepreneurship journey. Lorna also supports Business Development for the Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production at the College where she continues to help those same individuals and businesses develop, validate and demonstrate new technologies or innovative techniques. 

Lorna also co-chairs the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network, one of eight Regional Innovation Networks across the province that are supported by Alberta Innovates. The networks work collaboratively and share ideas and noteworthy practices. 

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

Transcript

Jon:

With our global population set to eclipse nine and a half billion people by the year 2050, we need to think differently about food production. And my next two guests have been doing just that in Central Alberta. It's a hotbed of expertise when it comes to Ag and smart farms. So sit back, settle in, and learn how data has become the 21st century plow. Welcome to Shift.

All right, today on Shift we've got Lorna Baird and Joy Agnew from Olds College of Agriculture and Technology. Welcome you guys.

Joy:

Thank you.

Lorna:

Thank you.

Jon:

Now, I've been down to Olds College for some of the tours, the farm days you guys have. And there's a lot of fantastic, exciting stuff going on. So why don't you guys just walk us through, walk our listeners through what Olds College of Agriculture and Technology is all about?

Joy:

Yeah, Olds College is pretty focused on Ag, and providing the latest and greatest training opportunities, learning opportunities and research opportunities in Ag and the Ag tech space. And that's really why we built and established the smart farm in 2018, was to really leverage that resource that's been at Olds College for over a century. But really integrate it more meaningfully in our academic programs and our applied research program with a focus on Ag tech. And accelerating the development, the adoption, the understanding, the integration, all of that of Ag tech into food production. Because we're all facing this global grand challenge of feeding a growing population with less impact on the environment or less negative impact on the environment. And it's a huge challenge. So we all need to come together and do what we can.

Jon:

Sure. Now, when we talk about the environmental impacts, and you think about carbon, and a lot of carbon can come from farming. Give me a sense of what some of those things to mitigate carbon will be? See how I went off script?

Joy:

That's fine. That's fine. This is my favorite topic to talk about, actually.

Jon:

Excellent. Right on.

Joy:

Yeah, the carbon footprint of agriculture is this huge ... honestly, it's a misunderstood, I guess, measure, honestly. Because a lot of people will parrot numbers like, oh, 10% of Canada's emissions come from Ag, or 24% of global emissions are from Ag. But really, where you draw the envelope or where you draw those lines around where emissions are really happening, plays a huge role. And when it comes to Ag, a lot of emissions from Ag are part of the short cycle of carbon. They were just sequestered in the soil, in the plants. And then they were grown and consumed by animals, or they were grown and crops were ... or grain was taking off of that.

And the net emissions to the atmosphere are actually relatively minimal when it comes to Ag. But everyone's always just measuring the absolute emissions. And that's a huge thing that needs to be sorted out and better communicated, in my opinion. But that's not saying there isn't opportunity for Ag producers to reduce their carbon footprint even more than they already are because it is actually relatively small. So there's all kinds of new tools, technologies, and practices that will support that. And we're looking at a number of them at Olds College.

Jon:

So help me understand this. So when you're talking about the carbon being sequestered, are you saying that the carbon being sequestered is kind of offsets the carbon that's being produced?

Joy:

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So Ag is a huge carbon sink, as well as a carbon or an emissions source, as well. And honestly, they balance each other out pretty well year over year. But you have to look at the entire cycle.

Jon:

Sure.

Joy:

And that's usually what gets missed when you're talking about emissions.

Jon:

Okay. Now with Olds College, once a year you do farm days is that-

Joy:

We do AgSmart.

Jon:

AgSmart.

Joy:

And then we host a number of tours and various other of events throughout the year to bring people through the farm.

Jon:

Okay, so it's regular citizens cross Alberta can come to Olds, visit this smart farm. And folks, it's fantastic.,It's really cool. I really enjoyed kind of the smart farm control center.

Joy:

Yeah, the data lab.

Jon:

The data lab. Yeah, where you can monitor all these different kind of conceivable variables to determine the health of soil, the health of the environment, basically. So tell me a little bit about that. How did that technology come to be? And what is the genesis? How do you become a smart farm?

Joy:

Oh, that's a huge question. What is a smart farm, I guess?

Jon:

Yes, there we go. Yeah.

Joy:

Honestly, one definition of a smart farm is just any farm that is using advanced tools and technologies or using data to make better decisions, to improve their overall productivity and sustainability.

Jon:

So data's critical there.

Joy:

Data's critical and digital tools are critical in that. But if you look at Ag tech and Ag tech adoption, 99% of farms have adopted some form of, say, GPS guidance or auto steer. Or using cameras to monitor livestock. So almost every farm, I would say, could be considered a smart farm. What sets Olds Collage smart farm and a few other smart farms apart is our mandate to support demonstration and learning and knowledge mobilization. So we aren't there to run a commercial farm to make a bunch of profit. We are running a farm to support academics and applied research and training and learning for a variety of different audiences.

Jon:

Okay. So now as ... when you're looking at that broad audience of people that are going to be accessing Olds, so students, researchers. How does it play into when there's entrepreneurs? How does that play into Olds College and what you guys do?

Joy:

Lorna can probably jump in here. Go ahead, Lorna.

Lorna:

In a number of ways, we work with entrepreneurs. They could come to us through the applied research side. So if they need help scaling or validating the technology that they're developing to serve the livestock industry or the crop industry, then they can come to us for those relationships on the applied research side. And in that stream, we're really nimble and able to do research that answers the questions that they have on their specific needs. And help them move through to commercialization with more sound decision making abilities because of that research and validation and real life situations.

Jon:

I get you. Okay.

Lorna:

So that's one way we can support them. And then on the other side, we have access to the Alberta Innovation Network and in our region is the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network. That can feed them into coaching and mentoring and other resources to help them on the business side. So we have both the technology and the business readiness supports there.

Jon:

So it's helping the college right across the board, right across the continuum. Because you'll have cutting edge smart farm research going on, and then how that can potentially be deployed by entrepreneurs that are coming in through the RINs and other programs to navigate through that. And I want to flesh out the Pan Canadian Smart Farm in a moment. But I just want to touch on the one faculty. When I'd been on a tour there a few months back as part of the Alberta Innovation Network, and you were both involved and it was fantastic. But I remember going through one of the buildings, and it was a newer building. So this was right after Command Central, the Smart Farm Command Central, and then into the new space. And they had a bunch of different tools that were on display. And that's a relatively new building.

Lorna:

Yeah, you're talking about the Werklund Ag Tech Center.

Joy:

Ag Tech Center.

Lorna:

Yeah, a beautiful building.

Jon:

It really is. And honestly, there's so many things about Olds, and I'm trying not to sound biased here. But just after the tour, leaving, going to the butcher shop, going to the brewery-

Lorna:

That was fun.

Jon:

You guys have. It's amazing. And folks, you got to check it out. If you're going from Edmonton to Calgary or whatever, or in or around Olds, you really do have to make a stop because it's very cool. But Flesh this Lakeland, is that what you called it?

Joy:

No, the Werklund Ag Tech Center.

Lorna:

Werklund.

Jon:

Werklund Ag Tech Center. My apologies for the Lakeland reference.

Joy:

It's okay, they're part of the network. It's all good.

Jon:

Beautiful. There we go. I've got a plugin for them. They owe me 25 cents.

Lorna:

Exactly. We partner on as many projects as we can with Lakeland or other colleges or universities to be working in tandem with them. So it's great to mention our partners.

Jon:

Yeah, there you go. See, everything's intentional. But tell me about this building. It was spotless, it was cool. Lots of wood blended with glass, and it just looked like the learning environment that I wish I had when I was going to school.

Joy:

Yeah, the Werklund Ag Tech Center is the home of our Werklund School of Ag Technology, and that's actually home to our new Ag Tech credentials. So our diploma and our degree program, as well as our other Ag programming and related programming, business programming within the Werklund School of Ag Technology. But that building, it was just opened, and our grand opening was last Fall. And so when that tour came through in early March, we realized March isn't the ideal time to show cool stuff out in the field, obviously. So we brought the field stuff inside and that's where-

Jon:

Ah, you brought the field in?

Joy:

We did, yeah. So all the sensors and various weather stations, and I think drones and a few other gadgets, I guess, were on display in that building for that tour. Just to peak interest and show, look-

Lorna:

There's so much going on.

Joy:

Farming isn't a plow and a horse anymore. It is-

Jon:

Well, and that's the interesting thing, and I often think about smart farms on my wife's side, it's a farming family in Saskatchewan. But a lot of the younger people are leaving farming, they don't want to farm because it's almost that perception, like you're saying, the plows, the horses, maybe a little old school. But with all of the technology that we're seeing, again, you guys have that autonomous ... a giant autonomous view, although those was controlled by the-

Lorna:

Remote control.

Jon:

Person who's controlling with will look like a joystick from a video game. Which is, as an aside, way too complicated for me. But it was amazing to see this massive piece of machinery and what it could do. And the operator could park themselves in a pickup truck, program it, and then it'll follow a route.

Joy:

Yep. I think technology and digital tools and the advancement of all that for Ag is sort of somewhat a double-edged sword at this point. Because it is opening a whole bunch of different doors for different career opportunities in Ag, and people are really interested in it. But at the same time, a lot of individuals already in farming are very wary and unsure about all these technologies and tools and artificial intelligence. And it's a massive disruption to how we have been growing food. And so the adoption rates for certain technologies are definitely not where we would expect to see them. And I think it's because of that. It's so different than how we did things before, and there's just a lack of certainty on exactly how it's going to work, how reliable it's going to be. Rural connectivity continues to be a big barrier or potential barrier for some of these tools. So there's lots of really cool things happening. It's just what is it going to take to get to that 80 or 90% adoption rate for these broader technologies?

Lorna:

And in terms of the autonomous Ag, when I looked at that as an outsider learning about it for the first time, I thought, well, that's neat for the couple of people who are going to be the front-runners, but I wonder how the adoption is going to flow beyond that. But it's encouraging to hear that it's not going to replace the people, it's there to support the people. And work in tandem with more conventional tools and be a problem solver, not a replacement, obviously. And that we have producers in our area that have decided to take that equipment on in their own production systems. So it's actually a real life thing, that means it's accessible. And maybe being connected with the college would give people a little bit more confidence to take on some of these technologies that are being studied and improve through our projects.

Jon:

So when we think about ... and Joy, you mentioned an interesting point about connectivity. Because as we know, urban connectivity with the internet isn't always great. So if you've got tools that are contingent upon that, it can be very difficult. But let's say we resolve the connectivity issue and move that aside. What do you, as Olds College, what do we as Alberta Innovates, and what do the entrepreneurs and researchers need to do to encourage people more so? Is it just education? Is it just getting the word out or what?

Joy:

It's partly that, but it's also making sure that these solutions are actually solving a problem and not creating a new problem. Because we see that a lot, as well. Where there is innovators and entrepreneurs with a great idea and they think, there's got to be an application in Ag. Yeah, we're going to say here, let's pitch it for a solution to this problem without really understanding the problem. And so that's the other value, I guess, of working with the smart farm. And the smart farm team is really understanding what Ag is all about in Ag production, and making sure that the problem is well-defined before really starting to dial in on a potential solution.

Jon:

It's interesting because that makes me think when I talk to Michael or any of the TDAs, in terms of business, it's always understanding what your do-dad, whatever piece of technology, what is it solving? What problem is it solving?

Lorna:

Problem solver. Yeah.

Jon:

Yeah. And it's so important that people don't get too married to their ideas of whatever tech it is they're creating and then forcing it to fit into something. Because I can see that creating some issues.

Joy:

The other big challenge in the Ag tech space is that every farm is different. So basically, every customer is different. So if you think about cell phones or smartphones, they're sort of ubiquitous and anyone can pick up a phone and make it work for themselves, and they don't have to have a whole bunch of different varieties of phones to serve the majority of the population. Ag is going to be different. Ag is going to have to be very ... like the tools and technologies are going to have to be flexible and adaptable and iterable for that specific farm or ranch or the way it operates.

Jon:

You know what that makes me think of? In health, there's that whole notion of personalized medicine. So we used to approach health as one size fits all. Oh, you've got a heart condition, you need to do this. But now we're looking more where ... the health innovators are looking more at, how does that individual behave? What are the contraindications for ... I'm not trying to sound like I know more than I know. But just you mentioning that made me think that, well, yeah, if every farm is different, it needs to be a personalized farming.

Joy:

That's a perfect analogy, actually. I'm going to use that if you're okay with that, Jon-

Jon:

Absolutely.

Joy:

Down the road.

Lorna:

TM.

Jon:

Every time it's 25 times, two bits.

Joy:

Because the human body is so incredibly complex, so is farming. So is the whole interface between soil, plant, water, animals. It's an incredibly complex environment, and that's why it has to be managed. So it's managed differently in every situation.

Jon:

It's really fascinating. Tell me a little bit about the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm.

Joy:

Yeah. So the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network was ... or the development phase of it, I guess, was launched in June, 2021. We're actually coming up on to the end of this development phase and we're looking to kind of identify what the next iteration looks like.

But the idea was to connect various smart farm entities across Canada. Because the Ag sector is so diverse across Canada. Olds College smart farm is great and we're doing amazing things, but we're relatively narrowly focused on broad acre, dry land, crop production, and beef and sheep production. There's so many other aspects of Ag-

Jon:

Sure.

Joy:

That need that kind of innovation support like a smart farm has, in order to really thrive. So we realize there's other smart farm entities out there, and we're all kind of at fairly early stage trying to figure things out. Let's work together. So we don't have to reinvent the wheel, share lessons learned, share best practices on how to run a smart farm, how to work with companies, how to work with entrepreneurs, how to create these relationships. And then do really good projects.

So the Smart Farm Network started with three core sites, Olds College, Lakeland College, and then Glacier Discovery Farm at Langham in Saskatchewan. And we have now since expanded to include ... I'm going to get the count wrong because we actually just announced our next expansion site today.

Jon:

Oh, hey, congratulations.

Joy:

Thank you. Our first expansion site was University of Saskatchewan Livestock and Forest Center of Excellence, and then we had the Manitoba Beef and Fortune Initiatives join us a few months ago. And then just today, EMILI Innovation Farms in Manitoba, as well, has joined.

Jon:

Wow, wonderful. That's great. So it's really starting to encompass Western Canada.

Joy:

We're almost pan-Canadian already. Yeah.

Jon:

That's really exciting.

Joy:

Yeah, and then we'll have two more announcements in the next couple of weeks.

Jon:

Okay. So no teasers.

Joy:

Sorry, no.

Jon:

You got to go check Olds College for information coming out on that.

So tell me a little bit more about the regional innovation networks and maybe the technology access centers, and how that kind of blends in. Because I also want to place this in the context of, you guys aren't just helping farmers in your region of Alberta.

Lorna:

Correct, yeah.

Jon:

So people can come in from all over different places, and the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm stuff. So you guys are all working together, sharing data and stuff. But if people, entrepreneurs, regular Joe, Joanne, Canadian, want to come down and see the smart farm, there's different ways they can do this. And you guys are there to help navigate through all of these different systems. Do I have a question there? I did at some point.

Lorna:

Let me tie in on your comment about the technology access centers. That's another strength of the networking that we have access to at Olds College. So the technology access centers across the country, there are 60 of them in countless different subject areas of expertise. Ours is the technology access center for livestock production. So that's focused on beef and sheep for the work that we do in the TAC. And that opens the door to working in collaboration with another seven TACs in the province, and then 60 across the country, if we need access to manufacturing to help a livestock client.

Jon:

So each TAC has a specific-

Lorna:

Their specialty.

Jon:

Kind of ... right, their specialty. So if you guys, if you have an entrepreneur that comes to you or someone that comes to you and says, "I need this." And it's not related to what your TAC experience is, you guys are a conduit-

Lorna:

Yes.

Jon:

To another TAC.

Lorna:

Yeah.

Jon:

Okay. Or potentially another RIN.

Lorna:

Yep, both. For sure.

Jon:

Okay. Or another school. So you guys, it's like a lot of the PSIs, the post-secondaries and those TACs and RINs all working together to kind of help, whether it's the researcher or whether it's the entrepreneur, get what-

Lorna:

What they need.

Jon:

To what they need.

Lorna:

So we don't just have the one little offering and say, okay, good luck with everything else. We can say, all right, we got you at the Technology Access Center for Livestock production. We got the background information and the grounding place for your Livestock Tech idea. Now we have to stop our work or pause some of our work and hand you over to Red Deer Polytechnic for some manufacturing support, access other funding through the RIN or other networks in the province, maybe get a micro voucher to get a prototype made. That's not our specialty, so we partner with Red Deer Polytechnic in this example. And then when they've got their prototype, they come back and say, how does this work in real life with a cow? And then we help them with that. And then we move them through to different steps. So it's not just the narrow focus of this is our business, we have all those other access points to so many networks across the country and in different areas that the clients need. It's a bit more of a full story.

Jon:

It's a really holistic approach. So it's not like someone will call you guys and then you're, yeah, no, that's not our thing. Sorry about that.

Lorna:

Can't help you, click. No.

Jon:

Yeah, there's always the warm handoff or that conduit to wherever that specialty may exist.

Lorna:

If it happens to be a Technology Access Center issue where we don't have the right answers. Then Tech Access Canada, that is sort of the umbrella organization for those 60 tax, has a jump ball system. Where you go online, you find jump ball, you ask your question, and instantly 60 TAC managers across the country have access to this question. And they say, okay, that's in our area of expertise, we can help. Or we've got experience with another client who accessed resources in that vein, so we can contact that person and get the answer. It's not just a-

Jon:

It's a big happy family.

Lorna:

It is. And so is the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Networks or the regional innovation Networks. And the PSIs, sometimes it feels like colleges and universities are very separate. But we partner with the universities, as well, being the nimble cousin of the kind of work that they can do in research.

Jon:

Right, okay. Okay. That's fascinating. So now Joy, what's next for the smart farm?

Joy:

The sky's the limit, I guess.

So the next couple of years I can see us really building out our activities at our smart farm in Saskatchewan. So we have actually expanded into Saskatchewan. So we have a land base there that we need to basically turn into the same type of demonstration facility that we have in Olds in Central Alberta. So we're working with a number of partners, and it just opens the door to a number of new entrepreneurs and innovators in that space or in that province to have that same kind of proving ground and testing ground.

So we'll be spending quite a bit of time on that. We're hoping to kind of launch the third phase, I guess, of our smart farm development. Which will allow us to expand a little bit in some of our areas of focus. So expanding into Saskatchewan is one piece, but other pieces maybe beyond broad acre, dryland crop production and beef and sheep production. So stay tuned for that, I guess. Because I don't know how much I'm allowed to share, but we're definitely looking at-

Jon:

Fair enough.

Joy:

A few other spaces for us to sink our teeth into and support innovators and tech developers in some new exciting agri-food spaces.

Jon:

That's cool to hear. It's exciting. And Ag is not ... there's always that expression. People are, oh, this isn't your grandma or grandpa's farm anymore. We've heard that a bunch of times. But the reality is, farming and agriculture has embraced technology. And there's a glamorous side to it, to the technology because there's cool aspects to that. But there's a really important side to it that is helping people do a critical job. Which is growing food and getting the food we need to hit a population of potentially ... what? Nine billion people, I think their saying in 2050. So when you think about all the stuff that goes on farms, vertical farming, rooftop farming. It's all very exciting. And I'm sure there's applications in there, smart data wise. So it'll be exciting to see how that fleshes out.

Now we're at Inventures. How's the event been for you guys so far?

Joy:

It's always such an amazing networking event that I barely get a chance to get into any of the sessions. Because you're just colliding with so many amazing people. I mean, it's the premier innovation event in Alberta, if not Western Canada. So it's really great to connect with so many people here, who are of this similar kind of mindset of let's accelerate, let's disrupt, let's innovate and move into this new paradigm of feeding a growing population with less impact on the environment.

Lorna:

My personal story from this morning, I arrived at 7:45 and by the time I had my bum in the seat at 8:15 for the intro, I had had eight super awesome conversations with new people, and people that I was reconnecting with that were going to meet up with again later to continue and finish those conversations and connections.

Jon:

Right on.

Lorna:

So I mean, I had a silly grin on my face from eight o'clock in the morning already, so I'm having a good time. It's lucrative.

Jon:

That's excellent. I'm very excited, and this is great to talk to you guys. So thank you very much for taking the time.

Joy:

Thank you.

Jon:

And we'll reconnect over the next day and a half.

Lorna:

Great.

Joy:

Sounds great. Thanks, Jon.

Lorna:

Thanks so much.

Jon:

Thank you.

Shift can be found online at Shift.AlbertaInnovates.ca. Or you can reach us via email at shift@AlbertaInnovates.ca. We can also be found on your favorite streaming service, so dive in and enjoy. Until next time, I'm Jon.