Corrected, May 24 — A national skills-building organization focused on connecting employers with “untapped” labour markets sets its webcams this summer on the automated and digital ag sectors.
Not-for-profit organization Palette Skills has launched a new eight-week online program for Saskatchewan residents focused on automation and digitization in agricultural production and processing. The enrolment deadline for the new program was May 22.
Palette’s automation and digital agriculture specialist program, running June 6 to July 29, is billed as allowing its candidates to specialize in “identifying, managing, and implementing technologies to solve challenges and improve efficiencies across the agri-food value chain.”
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More specifically, it focuses on “emerging technologies” in the agrifood sector such as GIS (geographic information systems), IoT (the Internet of Things), unmanned aerial vehicles, artificial intelligence, robotics, sensors and big data.
Workers who are “upskilled” through the program “can expect to develop careers in technology and business, farm robotics, agriculture automation, precision agriculture and production management,” the University of Saskatchewan, which supported the program’s design, said in a recent release.
The program is looking to recruit participants from Indigenous communities, newcomers to Canada, recent graduates and “experienced professionals looking to transition into the growing and exciting agri-food sector,” the U of S said.
“Today’s employees often need to understand how data and digital tools are being incorporated into everything from on-farm agriculture to food manufacturing,” said Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada, the federally-backed plant protein supercluster billed as a co-investor in the program.
“By having increased access to the right skills and talent, trailblazing companies across the country can increase their workforce, expanding their production and, as a result, growing Canada’s plant-based food and ingredient ecosystem.”
More information about the program and its format is available on the Palette Skills website.
CORRECTION, May 24, 2022: An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized the automation and digital agriculture specialist program as a University of Saskatchewan program. We regret the error.
