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Scale
The new scale game isn’t about land; it’s about data. With sensors now attached to everything that moves, from livestock to plant stalks, competition is fierce for the biggest, and best managed, data sets. They’re needed to help machines learn the optimal way to run a farm. “Farmers need to understand how the data is used,” said Kim Keller, Co-Founder of Farm at Hand, a Vancouver-based company that runs a free, cloud-based app to help farmers run their operations through mobile devices. Right now, “they have no idea if the data will benefit them or not.”Markets
The threat to NAFTA is not the only market access challenge for Canadian producers and processors. “We need to think and look at the rest of the world, at markets such as South America and Asia,” said Ian Meier, the CEO and co-founder of Saskatoon-based Bitstrada Systems Inc. Meier was recently in Germany, where the intensity of farming impressed him. And Canada now has preferred access to Europe, through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). But in a world that will add another 2-3 billion people in the next few decades, most eyes are on Asia. With its booming middle class – and more demand for protein – Asia will be the top market as food demand globally increases by a projected 70% by 2050. Other countries like Australia and New Zealand are moving fast to secure better access to those markets. Canada needs to, too.Techno-quality
Business strategists often fret about their products being commoditized. Tell that to a commodity producer. Al-Katib is trying to build a global enterprise based on quality. Not easy when you’re shipping your produce in giant bins and competing on the ground with Indian lentils. But he thinks technology has an answer. Using blockchain to enable every device in the world to know instantly what every other device is recording, he sees a new world of food distribution. Blockchain could allow a lentils dealer in Mumbai, for instance, to know where, when and how a batch was produced. Consumers, scanning food in a store, would know the same. “When we embed in technology, we embed in traceability,” he said. If Canada ups our quality game, distributed technology would be our game-changer.Entrepreneurs
The tech world has evolved into a winner-takes-all economy, in which global giants are devouring all the companies in their way. Yet innovative economic clusters thrive on entrepreneurs. In fact, that’s all they thrive on. “We tend to focus on large companies, when small ones are driving innovation,” Keller noted. “We need to focus on building an ecosystem: start, flourish and have the companies stay in Saskatchewan.”Farmers
It may seem obvious that agtech’s success depends on farmers – a bit like health tech and nurses – but they’re often the forgotten link in the chain. Too often, agtech is developed with everything but the farmer in mind. “Technology isn’t used by farmers because it’s not easy enough,” Meier said. Keller designed her Farm at Hand app with the mantra, “big fingers, bad eyes,” to ensure big buttons that are adequately spaced out. Even then, she said her app’s biggest competition is pen and paper. A greater tech challenge for many farmers lies beyond an app developer’s control. Most machinery, and therefore data, is designed and managed by the global equipment giants – and often their systems don’t integrate very well. The profile of farmers is changing, too. No more American Gothic. Tomorrow’s farmer will need to be part techie, part globalist, part futurist. One input that will be in greater demand: Diversity. More women, more new Canadians, more people who maybe didn’t grow up on the land. As Keller noted, “agtech takes the gender out of farming.” “We have a long way to go,” Meier said, “but we’re in the right direction.”This article is intended as general information only and is not to be relied upon as constituting legal, financial or other professional advice. The reader is solely liable for any use of the information contained in this document and Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”) nor any of its affiliates nor any of their respective directors, officers, employees or agents shall be held responsible for any direct or indirect damages arising from the use of this document by the reader. A professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date but we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressly given or implied by Royal Bank of Canada or any of its affiliates. This document may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, which are subject to RBC’s caution regarding forward-looking statements. ESG (including climate) metrics, data and other information contained on this website are or may be based on assumptions, estimates and judgements. For cautionary statements relating to the information on this website, refer to the “Caution regarding forward-looking statements” and the “Important notice regarding this document” sections in our latest climate report or sustainability report, available at: https://www.rbc.com/our-impact/sustainability-reporting/index.html. Except as required by law, none of RBC nor any of its affiliates undertake to update any information in this document.