Apr 8, 2021

New innovation partnership to advance automation for Canadian vegetable growers

A new collaboration between Canada’s leader in applied horticulture research and innovation and INO, the nation’s largest technology centre in optics and photonics will make innovative automation technology available for Canadian mushroom and greenhouse cucumber growers.

The collaboration is bringing together Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) in Ontario and INO to develop new robotic harvesting solutions to help Canadian growers be more efficient and productive while offering relief from labor shortages.

“Addressing labour challenges in horticulture through automation is a key priority for Vineland and this new collaborative relationship with INO will play a significant role in helping us advance automation technologies for the sector,”  Phillip Stephan, vice president of business & client Development, Vineland, said in a news release. “We are looking forward to harnessing INO’s expertise in vision technology for the benefit of Canadian growers.”

“Food autonomy and the buy-local movement are the future way of living and producers need innovative solutions to meet demand. Our collaboration with Vineland is targeted to our mission: to help businesses to be more productive and competitive. With vision and detection technologies, we hope to offer new solutions for labour shortages and farming process automatization to Canadian growers in a near future,” said Louis Martel, vice president business development and partnership.

INO has the most extensive optics and photonics expertise in the country and the know-how to develop vision systems dedicated for harvesting robots and Vineland focuses on a coordinated approach to innovation by bringing together expertise and technologies from various sectors to create commercial-ready solutions for horticulture.

Vineland is home to Canada’s Automation Cluster under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre is a uniquely Canadian results-oriented organization dedicated to horticulture science and innovation. We deliver innovative products, solutions and services through an integrated and collaborative cross-country network to advance Canada’s research and commercialization agenda.

Vineland is an independent, not-for-profit organization, funded in part by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. For the latest on the center’s research and innovation, visit here.

INO is the largest center of expertise in optics and photonics in Canada and is among the best technological research centers in the world. For the past 30 years, it has created and developed innovative and valuable solutions to meet the needs of businesses throughout Canada.

A world leader in high technology, INO has implemented more than 6,500 solutions, carried out 75 technology transfers, and contributed to the creation of 35 new companies, which provide jobs to more than 2,000 people. INO’s activities are made possible thanks to the sustained collaboration of the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation and of Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. For more information, visit here.