Farming the future: Innovation and the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

Out of the forest and onto the farm

When a university recruiter suggested forestry as a career, David Simmonds thought it was the perfect opportunity to combine his passion for the environment with his love of science. But as it turned out, forestry had a lot more to offer; it introduced David to remote sensing technologies that changed the way he saw the world.

"I realized you could do a lot of work through computer simulations and remote sensing," David explains. "If you do it right, you can rely on technology to do a lot of measurements for you."

David loved the perspective that remote sensing offered, and he knew he wanted to use it to make a difference. When a local agriculture tech startup was looking for someone experienced in remote sensing, David decided to switch from the forest to the field.

As David learned more about agriculture, he realized that a farmer's field was an ecosystem in itself, and like a forest, it was affected by the climate. It's not unusual for growing seasons to vary from year to year, but unexpected storms and heatwaves make it harder for farmers to accurately predict their harvest. Farmers' yields impact the entire food system, and with many producers faced with uncertainty, David looked to remoting sensing for a solution.

In addition to understanding how changing weather patterns impact crops, remote sensing can allow David and his team to track sustainable farming practices such as low-till farming to help prevent soil erosion. Without needing to step onto a field, David can see when it was tilled and program a computer to continually monitor fields for soil movement, allowing food processors to determine if they are meeting their sustainability goals.

David is excited to bring his expertise on remote sensing to the Youth Council. In our ever-changing world, as new technology becomes available, David knows that improving current solutions is just as important as building new ones: "A solution you develop today might need to be adjusted in a few years. It's important to listen to others and adapt quickly."

Growing up, Boma N-Chris was unfamiliar with agriculture. She was always drawn to engineering and began to study in that field. But she always had a willingness to try new things. Everything changed for her when she elected to take a course on food policy. It opened her eyes, and Boma began to see agriculture not only as a sector filled with opportunity, but one where she felt her knowledge and skills could make a difference. She decided to change her field of study.

"Coming from Nigeria, I've seen the prevalence of food insecurity firsthand. There are two sides to this coin: there's so much inaccessibility to high-quality food, but there is also food waste," says Boma. "It can't always be like this, and there is a way to close that gap."

After graduating, Boma joined Agronomix, a software company specializing in plant breeding and variety testing. There, she felt she could help plant the seeds of a food insecurity solution. Plant breeding and genetics didn't come naturally to Boma, but again, her open-mindedness and willingness to push herself gave her the confidence to make it her career.

Boma and her team's software automates parts of the plant breeding process, using the data collected over time to identify next steps in creating new plants and varieties. Plants are naturally restricted in where they grow, but plant breeding creates varieties that can thrive in new environments. With a growing global population, creating crop varieties with higher yields strengthens the productivity of farmland and increases the availability of food.

For Boma, plant breeders and variety testers are key to reducing food insecurity. Boma's willingness to try new things has taken her to the Youth Council, and she is excited to share her knowledge with her colleagues. With Boma and her team at Agronomix working behind the scenes, breeders can make the most of their data and spend more time perfecting their plants.

Growing up on her family's cattle and dryland grain farm, there was no doubt in Andrea De Roo's mind that she would have a career in agriculture. She always thought she would work with animals; however, a plant science course made her realize there was a bigger puzzle to be solved in the soil.

Dryland farming is unique. On these farms, bodies of water aren't available as a water source, so farmers need to plan carefully to maximize their yields. "Every year in farming is different," Andrea explains. "A lot of our production is driven by the environment and weather, which means planning around factors outside of our control."

Besides rain, soil moisture is a dryland farmer's only other water source. Without knowing exactly how much moisture is in the soil, planning for crops can feel like a guessing game. But it's what captured Andrea's fascination: could she find a way remove the guesswork and maximize her field's potential by knowing the exact amount of water available in the soil?

It was a big question, and Andrea knew she'd have to dig a little deeper to find an answer.

In addition to farming, Andrea works as the Director of Agronomy for a company called Crop Intelligence. When her company received new weather stations for pest management, she had an opportunity to dig into the dirt with soil moisture probes. Once the probes were planted in the ground, Andrea's team had a thought: Would it be possible to repurpose the probes to understand yield potential and plant health?

With the help of the weather stations and other digital apps, Andrea and her team were delighted to find that the probes were indeed able to gather moisture data from the soil, and with a few calculations, they could estimate crop yield potential based on available water. This breakthrough has led to better planning for farmers to adjust their yield goals and provide their crops with the precise amount of support through nutrient supplements and pest management.

"If the rainfall and soil moisture is more than expected, you can set a bigger yield goal," Andrea explains of this newfound accuracy. The opposite is also true: "If there is less water and the potential yield isn't there, you won't use supplies unnecessarily."

Advanced technologies allow farmers to get to know their fields more intimately, and Andrea looks forward to sharing her knowledge and experiences with the Youth Council. It's a tricky puzzle to solve, but Andrea loves giving farmers the confidence to grow more when they can, and offering peace of mind in lower yield seasons.

A master's degree in plant science led to work in Canada's agriculture sector as a regulatory manager at conventional chemical and biological companies. Being the crucial bridge between her company's new products and the regulatory agencies blended B.'s passion for agriculture and her career goals. "I realized that even if you have a great product, no one can benefit from it if you don't know how to effectively communicate with regulatory agencies," she says.

However, B.'s job also contained another important bridge: finding balance between innovation and regulation for new products.

B. knows that getting a product approved can be a long journey, but through her work, she sees the regulatory process as a collaborative effort between everyone involved. "Regulatory agencies are not a barrier, but an ally," says B. "It's important to talk with them, understand their concerns, and provide them with what they need to make an informed decision."

By communicating with regulatory agencies throughout the approval process, B. and her team can understand what work needs to be done and conduct the appropriate tests for their products. This is especially true when they're testing a new product for the market, as there's no basis for comparison and all the testing needs to be done from scratch. But by working together, B.'s team and other regulatory agencies can determine the best way to evaluate a product to ensure it's safe for Canadians.

Regulatory affairs in agriculture touches on every part of a product's or technology's development, and plays an important role in ensuring that farmers have access to the best and safest tools. With the Youth Council, B. hopes that her experience in regulatory affairs will show that innovation and regulation isn't a choice, it's a partnership.