AgTech Breakfast showcases emerging agricultural innovations
By Amanda Nelson
Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock ran this year from Sept. 15 to 17 on the fairgrounds on Oxford Road 17.
Every year, more than 36,000 people and more than 600 exhibitors attend the farm show.
For more than 30 years, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show has brought together visitors and exhibitors from across Canada to showcase agricultural innovation and new technology.
This year was no different. The annual AgTech Breakfast brought together farmers, startup companies and stakeholders to showcase new and emerging technologies from across Canada.
Nevin McDougall, Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario (ARIO) board chair, moderated the event and said ARIO works together with Ontario leaders to bring the best agricultural innovation forward to enhance farming efficiency across the province.
“ARIO is the owner and investor in the 14 agricultural research stations spread across our great province, where we work in collaboration with the University of Guelph to conduct research and look for the next great solutions to improve our productivity and efficiency for our agri-food sector,” he said.
ARIO is a board-governed agency of the province and is accountable to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. In 2024, the ARIO Act was modernized to help the agency better support the sector in areas like equipment, technology, veterinary medicine and the needs of rural communities related to agriculture and food.
One standout business presenter was Mahla Mirali, PhD, and founder of grAIn Data Solutions.
Growing up on a farm and earning a PhD in agriculture, Mirali has long been interested in agri-tech and has worked in artificial intelligence (AI) since 2021.
At a workshop at the University of Guelph, Mirali said a dairy farmer came to her with a problem: He couldn’t reliably measure the moisture in his bunker zone, and he was looking for a solution that was user-friendly, fast and not very expensive.
Mirali said the products on the market at the time were very expensive, unreliable or too slow to process, so she set out to build a better solution. This is where grAIn Data Solutions FeedProbe was born.
“We started researching, and we worked with some institutions to make the first venture of funding, and then start the real work,” said Mirali. “It was not an easy solution. It took us a while to find a good solution that is reliable enough for the farmers. And I came up with the final product after so many iterations.”
A portable device, grAIn Data Solutions FeedProbe is designed to quickly measure the moisture content of silage right at the feed bunker. The goal is to help livestock farmers adjust how much silage they put into a ration based on that day’s actual feed moisture, rather than an older lab result or book value.
The technology uses sensors in a handheld probe that connects to a phone app and provides real-time measurements to help farmers work more efficiently and avoid wasted time.
“The farmer will grab some samples, mix them and put them in the probe,” said Mirali. “From there, an app connected through Bluetooth will read three samples to make an average, and that’s going to give a very reliable answer.”
This product will hit the market soon and is expected to be priced around $500 to $800, making it one of the most affordable and reliable products on the market.
Miral’s business is just one of the many businesses advancing the agri-food industry.
The agri-food sector is a vital part of Ontario’s economy, contributing more than $52 billion to GDP and supporting one in nine jobs across the province.
“For me, that is very exciting, and it’s an opportunity for us to look at innovation,” said McDougall. “How do we adopt innovation? How do we maximize the potential and value from new innovations, and in particular, support some of the new companies that are trying to bring new innovations to the marketplace? You know, that’s a real signal of the health of our ecosystem. Are we getting new companies introducing their technology, scaling, getting adoption and creating new solutions for us to ensure that our sector is successful?”
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