To date, only pesticides registered for use with drones — often called remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) — can legally be applied by drones. Almost none are registered for drone application.

WHY IT MATTERS: The proposed regulations would make many existing pesticides available for application by drone. To date, almost no products have been made available for legal application by drone — though anecdotal evidence suggests drone application is happening on the down low.

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) proposes to allow currently registered products, where the label permits aerial application — that is, by fixed wing or rotary aircraft — to be applied by drone.

Applicators would need to comply with all the label directions for aerial application, including spray volume, application rate, droplet size, treatment interval and spray buffer zones.

When used according to aerial application instructions, the PMRA said, drone application is not expected to impact the value of the pesticide being applied.

Based on data from global studies, spray drift with drone application is similar to ground application. Spray buffer zones established for conventionally-piloted rotary wing aircraft will be adequate. The PMRA also said pesticide residues on food crops are not higher than with conventional applications.

The PMRA said there isn’t enough data for a full risk assessment on safety risks of operators exposure to pesticides; however, it says available evidence suggests it’s “unlikely to be higher than with conventional equipment” — particularly because tasks such as mixing, loading and application must be done by different people, just as with other aerial spraying.

Consultations opened on Feb. 23 and close March 25.

Drone pilots would still require the relevant licenses from Transport Canada.

PMRA passes five-year mark on regulation studies

The PMRA began studying drone regulations in 2019. In September, members of the federal standing committee on agriculture asked the PMRA’s senior director general Frédéric Bissonette what was taking so long.

Bissonette cited scientific issues — for example, that a drone did not behave the same as an airplane — and pledged to have “something in place for next year.”

“Canada seems to be kind of falling behind other jurisdictions in terms of allowing this type of use,” CropLife Canada CEO Pierre Petelle told Glacier FarmMedia in late 2025.

“With these products being used in many other western-type jurisdictions … there should be ways of coming to conclusions much quicker than we have,” he added.

Crop protection companies, meanwhile, have been conducting studies to collect drone-specific data for their products.

Anecdotal evidence suggested farmers were using already drones to apply pesticides on the down low.

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Many producers have marginal land on their operations that have poor yields and are uneconomical. For years, Ducks Unlimited Canada has urged seeding those areas to perennial forages. 

A recent project with drones could make that even easier. At the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference in January 2025, Jodie Horvath, an extension specialist at Ducks Unlimited Canada, highlighted the research. The project, looking at seeding perennial forages in marginal areas via drone, started in 2024, in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Forage Council and the University of Saskatchewan. It was part of the Agriculture Demonstration of Practices and Technologies program.

Marginal areas

Seeding marginal areas is difficult at the best of times. These areas are often hard to reach, wet and prone to salinity. Seeding perennial forages benefits marginal areas, but there are many challenges associated with it.

“Marginal areas, of course, are within annual cash cropland… we see them all too often right around the buffer of a wetland,” Horvath said. “But it could be places where equipment doesn’t reach anymore. It could be something that’s cut off, that we can’t get to. And they are typically saline. They’re accumulating salts, the water table is high. So how can we get in there?”

An issue for farmers is timing. While many can see the benefit of seeding forages in marginal land, it would have to happen while they are already seeding their crops. This means dealing with marginal areas is not always a high priority.

“You’ve always got a lot on your plate in May, whether you’re a cow-calf producer or a grain producer,” Horvath said.

“It’s hard to get in there at the right time. You’re more focused on getting your crop seeded and looking after the field work.”

Seeding forages requires different equipment than seeding most cash crops, which can also deter farmers.

Despite these challenges, there are many benefits to seeding perennial forages. Perennials will reduce salinity. They also increase biodiversity, lower the water table, decrease the competitiveness of weeds, increase the amount of pollinators in the field and provide nesting areas for waterfowl.

Drones could create those positives while combatting some of the challenges.

Drone seeding

Researchers started by studying the effectiveness of drone seeding forages in marginal areas. Three locations were used — Touchwood Hills Conservation Ranch, the South East Research Farm and RJ Game Farm, all in Saskatchewan. Each site was seeded using precision-based strategies. The locations provided different climates and environments to test the technology.

“So, we went in, did the spring seedings, and then in each of these sites, we had an adjacent spot where we put greenfeed in or crop. And then we went into that same spot in the fall,” Horvath said.

Horvath said the research was successful as everything seeded in the spring germinated well.

Because of that, Ducks Unlimited launched a program related to this research, called the Fall Dormant Seeding program.

In this program, they offered free custom seeding via drone in marginal areas. They also offered to pay farmers to seed the areas themselves. In the fall of 2024, Ducks Unlimited seeded around 500 acres of marginal land for 14 producers. 

“We were really lucky last season,” Horvath said. “It was an open fall in general for most producers across the Prairies, and so we had a little bit more time to play with it, and to maybe introduce some producers to the idea of it.”

She saw many benefits to seeding with a drone. The logistics around the drone, charger, batteries and seed were also easier than she expected.

While Ducks Unlimited has been helping farmers seed marginal areas to forages for years, drones are allowing more people to get involved. Farmers who wanted to participate in the program in the past, but didn’t have time, have expressed interest in drone seeding.

Rancher perspective

Chase Waters of Pursuit Land and Cattle Service was one of the first people involved with drone seeding in the initial program.

Located near Cupar, Sask., Waters was approached by Horvath to see if he was interested in participating in the program. The piece of land drone-seeded is a low-lying alkaline area that Waters had planned to take out of grass because it gets heavily used by his cattle due to its proximity to the shipping yard.

“We’re not disturbing any topsoil,” Waters said of the drone seeding. “We’re not bringing in relatively large equipment. We can come into a small area. We’re not going to get stuck around this body of water. It’s in and out. It was all done from off the road. The operator never set foot on the property.”

They seeded in late spring. Then, all Waters had to do was harrow in the seed. He harrowed in half and left the other half. He said there was good growth last year so Waters is hopeful that will continue this spring.

He also wants to continue experimenting with the drone, around fence lines, for example. He sees potential benefits to using a drone, for either seeding or spraying, once the regulations are in place.

“When they get their set chemicals they’re allowed to use, I think we might see it take off a little bigger in pasture management, (with) noxious weeds and farmers precisely spraying areas.”

Future plans

Now that spring is approaching, Horvath said she is excited to see the germination from the fall seeding. She is hoping to get out into the field earlier this year than they did in 2024, though that depends on the weather.

“Lots more learning to be done but I’m really positive about how it’s going to play out.”

With this program taking off, Horvath is hopeful that more people will be interested in seeding their marginal areas to forages, through Ducks Unlimited or on their own. However, she recommends doing your research beforehand.

When seeding marginal areas, don’t start with the worst piece of land you have on your operation. Instead, find one that is more accessible where you are more likely to succeed. Keep in mind that if areas have high salinity, newly seeded forages won’t immediately eliminate it.

Horvath said it is also important to leave the area alone once it is seeded. 

“I guess a concern of ours is that these areas get seeded but the following year, somebody comes in and sprays them out. Whether it’s just innocently not realizing because those areas are ugly… it takes two to three years to get them looking where they can sort of out-compete the other weeds.” 

She recommends picking a blend appropriate for the area.

“We just are trying to find solutions for people that can make this work,” Horvath said.

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While the use of spray drones for chemical application is still illegal in Canada, research on how to use them efficiently and effectively is ongoing.

Much of Wolf’s research focuses on how to properly operate a drone for best spray application. He stressed the importance of flight height and speed because they effect the downwash and droplet distribution.

Ideal height of flight is about three metres from the ground, while ideal speed will vary depending on the amount of product deposit a producer wants, just like with a typical boom sprayer.

Wolf and his team have tested anywhere from four to 18 m.p.h. during their research.

However, because drones are slower than other aircraft and create their lift by pushing air downwards, there is a more significant downwash with drones than with piloted aircraft.

“On a piloted aircraft, we don’t have a lot of downwash — it generates a lot of downwash, but it’s diluted by forward travel speed,” he said.

A strong downwash is needed because it assists in the product effectively making it’s way through the canopy of plants to the ground. However, this downwash is also highly susceptible to drift, making it hard to create tight borders.

“In the middle of the drone pass, there’ll be heavy deposition, and on the edges it’ll be lighter and lighter and lighter,” Wolf told the crowd.

“You have to decide, where is it too light? Where do I have to start overlapping?”

According to Wolf, swath patterns and determining those overlaps are the biggest challenge with drones.

“We have to measure them, and they’re not as uniform as we’d like,” he said.

“So, there may be design features, faster flying speeds, getting under the downwash (to consider). We have a lot of work to do here to make sure that we actually don’t create problems.”

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The House Republicans, including Representatives Elise Stefanik, Ashley Hinson and John Moolenaar, who chairs a select committee on China, asked the U.S. Agriculture Department and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in letters seen by Reuters to detail the administration’s efforts to address risks posed by aerosol dispensing drones and brief Congress by Sept. 30 and cited the large number of drones produced by Chinese-drone manufacturer DJI.

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Smaller drones designed for surveying, and crop/livestock monitoring are already a tool in many farmers’ toolboxes, but the larger spray drones are also becoming more practical in a Prairie context.

“With the spraying we’re doing on canola and other crops, we’re losing too much money on tracks, and it’s getting costly for airplanes and helicopters,” said Dwayne Bacon, a farmer from Kinistino, Sask. attending the event.

“This will be a new thing for farmers to get into,” he added.

The spray drones on display had the capacity to cover 40 to 50 acres per hour. However, while the technology is there, regulatory approval for the applications of most interest to farmers is lacking.

“The regulations are running behind the technology… which puts farmers in a tough position,” said David Koop, chief operating officer of Green Aero Tech.

Under the current Canadian regulations, spray drones are legally allowed to do such things as applying fertilizer and spreading seed, but no pesticides have regulatory approval from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).

“It’s not allowed, but is it being done? Absolutely. And is it the primary interest? Absolutely,” said Markus Weber, president of Landview Drones. He expected the vast majority of spraying drones were being used for applying pest control products, desiccants and herbicides. “I realize that’s not currently considered legal by PMRA, but that is what most of the people buying spraying drones are doing.”

“There are definitely people being told that it is legal to apply on their own farm by vendors that are eager to sell these drones. That is not the case, the PMRA considers it equally illegal if you’re spraying on your own farm or spraying on someone else’s farm,” said Weber.

“There are people going in with their eyes closed, but there are also people going in with their eyes wide open and they don’t have another option,” said Weber, noting that small farmers often have no other choice for applying fungicide in-crop without a high clearance sprayer.

“It will be a year full of drama, and I’m looking forward to that drama because I think that’s what it will take in this business to get things to change,” said Weber.

“Many farmers don’t realize that spraying off label with a drone is considered illegal by PMRA, and I hope those aren’t the people that are prosecuted,” said Weber, noting he expected to see some enforcement in 2024 with heavy fines a possibility.

While approval for agricultural chemicals could be years away, there was a glimmer of hope when the PMRA approved the Garlon XRT brush-control herbicide for drone usage in just the past week.

“We look forward to when we’ve gone through the process and are able to do everything,” said Koop, adding “farming’s tough up here, and guys need every single edge they can get.”

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The Stratus AirSprayer, a new drone tool unveiled by Saskatchewan-based Precision AI in July, is unlike anything she’s seen so far.

“I think they’ve got something really special,” says Meisser, who was invited to see the AirSprayer in action during field testing in New Mexico in May.

“There are a lot of things that make the Stratus AirSprayer unique,” she adds. “I think it will change how the farming community starts to think about managing crops. It’s going to shift some mindsets.”

The Stratus AirSprayer is different than the quadcopters and fixed-wing UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) typically associated with ag drones. Essentially, it’s a powered paraglider — one that can carry heavier loads and stay aloft much longer than conventional drones.

Daniel McCann, founder and CEO of Precision AI, says the advanced, autonomous aerial sprayer was designed to increase efficiency and maximize field time in the kind of large-acre farms found in Western Canada.

“Spray drones are great if you have 40 acres of onions or something like that,” says McCann. “But if you’ve got 10,000 acres of canola, good luck getting a small drone sprayer to cover that.”

The body of the Stratus AirSprayer is 3.25 metres (10 feet, eight inches) long, 2.1 metres (six feet, nine inches) wide and 2.25 metres (seven feet, five inches) high. It weighs 700 lbs. (318 kg) empty and can carry a payload of up to 833 lbs. (378 kg).

The machine has a three-blade propeller at the back powered by a Rotax 100-horsepower gasoline engine, and it relies on a 541-square-foot (50.3-metre) parachute or “soft wing” to stay aloft.

McCann acknowledges the Precision AI team was a bit worried at first about how the UAV’s parachute would go over, given that it’s so different.

But he says that really hasn’t been a concern, once farmers are shown how the Stratus AirSprayer works, and they can see how handling the parachute isn’t any harder than folding and unfolding a spray boom.

The flight speed of the AirSprayer is just under 40 m.p.h. (61 km/h) and it is able to take off from a farmer’s field as long as there is 350 to 500 feet (107 to 152 metres) of runway room available. When the job’s done, the hardware can be loaded onto a flatbed truck or a 12-foot trailer, and the canopy folded and packed up into an easy-to-carry travel bag.

The Stratus AirSprayer can carry 100 U.S. gallons (378 litres) of herbicide, fungicide or insecticide solutions, which according to Precision AI is almost 20 times more than smaller ag drones. A bigger payload means more time in the air and more acres covered in a day.

The gas-powered AirSprayer can fly up to five hours before refueling, which McCann maintains is an obvious advantage over electric drones. “Your typical spray drones, even the big ones, typically max out at about 10 minutes of airtime, then you’ve got to swap batteries and refill it,” he says.

All this can mean substantial savings for farmers. Precision AI maintains it costs less than $3 per acre to operate the Stratus AirSprayer, a fraction of the cost of traditional drone technology which it says ranges from $6 to $13 per acre.

The automated Stratus AirSprayer can do precise GPS-guided broadcast sprays in two interchangeable swath widths, one 18 feet (5.5-metre) wide and the other 30 feet (nine-metres) wide.

A Generation Two version of the AirSprayer, slated to be released soon after the Generation One model, will feature green-on-green spray capability, developed by Precision AI with the use of artificial intelligence and advanced computer vision.

McCann says even with its high-tech capabilities, the Stratus AirSprayer isn’t difficult to operate and maintain, adding to its appeal to farmers. “Except for the onboard AI system, everything can be fixed fairly easily.”

While the Stratus AirSprayer is designed to allow farmers to do large-scale aerial applications on their own, it isn’t meant to compete directly with crop dusters and other aerial spraying businesses. Instead, Precision AI views them as potential partners as the UAV is unrolled in the Canadian market.

That likely won’t happen right away, as the Canadian government hasn’t yet approved using drones in aerial applications of crop protectant products. Precision AI is on a committee to advise Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) on the necessary changes required to allow spraying from UAVs.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got the technology that can be used as an automated aerial sprayer. It’s built out, and we just need to wait for the regulatory environment to catch up,” says McCann.

Precision AI hopes the PMRA will follow the lead of U.S. regulators and release a decision soon approving the use of drones for ag chemical applications. In the meantime, Precision AI plans to continue testing in the U.S. as well as on farms in Western Canada as it prepares for a limited release of the Stratus AirSprayer next year.

Meisser views the AirSprayer as a good value proposition, both in terms of productivity and return on investment. She also sees it as a very practical solution for farmers looking to get the most out of their crops.

“The Precision AI team is really connected to the farming community and are trying to build solutions for farmers with farmers. I think that they’re solving problems that matter,” she says.

“I think they just got down to brass tacks to determine what does this (machine) really need to do.”

In Meisser’s eyes, it won’t take long for the Stratus AirSprayer to gain traction among farmers once it catches on with leading-edge ag adopters and influencers willing to give the technology a try.

“You just need some strong ambassadors to showcase the technology,” she says. “Farmers are the most innovative people I know. They solve problems on a daily basis, and it doesn’t take any of them too long to identify where they see value. I think they will embrace it.”

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Canada’s Pest Management Review Agency approved Garlon XRT herbicide, the first industrial vegetation product with drone application on the label.

“We are the first company to have a pesticide registered with PMRA for drone application,” said Mark Versluys, specialties business leader for Corteva Agriscience in Calgary.

“There is no other pesticide in Canada that has drone application on the label,” he said.

Versluys said the data collection and processing of the information required for approval took many months before the company received approval from PMRA.

Now, the herbicide can be sprayed by drone under utility right-of-ways, transmission lines, oil and gas leases and on steep mountainous terrain, anywhere Garlon was already registered for use in industrial areas. The approval does not extend to drone spraying for agricultural use.

Versluys said Corteva will continue to collect data and work with PMRA to have other pesticides registered for application by drone in the future.

“This isn’t just a one and done. This is the first step in a very exciting journey,” he said.

“I think the future looks very bright.”

Markus Weber, president of Landview Drones, said while the door is open a crack, PMRA needs to do more to add drone application registration for agricultural use to existing labels. Approving one herbicide at a time will take five to 10 years before there is a large selection of chemistry available for farmers.

Weber said ideally, he would hope PMRA would approve any chemical for drones that is now approved for aircraft.

“To me that is ultimately the way that we need to do this. It can’t just be label by label,” he said at the Agriculture in Motion farm show held northwest of Saskatoon.

In the first hour of the show, more than 120 farmers showed up for a drone demonstration.

“It is incredible. Farmers see this as a tool primarily for three things: brush control, pasture fungicide application and desiccant application.”

Pest control products can’t legally be sprayed by drone, but farmers see the potential, he said.

“Now that drones can fly large acreages and spraying can be done quickly and reliably, they see the potential, but they just can’t because the label doesn’t allow them to.”

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Last summer I bought a drone — the DJI Mini Pro 3. It is a small drone that is used for taking videos only. I love it. It weighs only 249 grams, so you do not need a licence to fly it, but it still takes very high-quality video in 4K. Not only have I taken hundreds of hours’ worth of video as you might have seen from my social media, but I also use it to save time and repairs on equipment. I can check pasture with it. I drive up to a pasture gate and turn off my engine. In about ten minutes, I can have the drone up and across the bumpy pasture, check the water and the herd, and then be back on the road to the next stop. If I need to move the herd into a new paddock and want to make sure the gates are closed, a quick flight to the back corner can confirm it. I have been very happy with my investment of approximately $1,500. It has saved me hundreds of hours and many unnecessary repair bills as I don’t need to bounce across all that rough terrain in my pastures to check on things nearly as often.

A few months ago, I jumped in with both feet. I picked up a DJI Agras T-10 seeding drone from Land View Drones for approximately $25,000. This is the smallest seeding drone they sell at 24.9 kg. They have bigger drones, but the T-10 is just light enough to only require a basic drone licence to fly. A heavier drone would require an advanced licence. They purposely sell the T-10 in Canada with a smaller tank to get the loaded weight just under the 25-kg mark. 

Now, most agricultural drones are set up to spray. Even though that is still illegal in Canada, that’s what most of the drones are used for. I have no use for spray on my ranch, so I ordered the drone with a spreader system installed instead. A drone with a spreader attachment is not very common here in Alberta.

Like the Mini 3, this purchase has saved me a lot of time and equipment repairs already. In the past, to top dress seed into my pastures, I used a broadcaster of some kind and drove back and forth across some very difficult terrain. I have used a quad-mounted spreader, a pull-type Valmar and even hired a floater truck. In all cases, the terrain has been a major complication due to equipment repairs. Thanks to the drone, there has been a substantial reduction in my “sore back complaints” because I don’t have to bounce around all day over the rough pasture. Now, I sit in a lawn chair and supervise while the T-10 does most of the work for me.

The downsides to drone seeding are the battery storage and volume of seed it can carry. A battery will last about eight minutes. Depending on the seed size and application rate, it’s around eight minutes before I have to refill the seed. Yes, I said eight minutes. This forces me to get out of my lawn chair quite often to change the batteries and top up the seed tank. I am set up with a generator and two charging units with five batteries. Two of them are always charging as it takes about 16 minutes to charge one battery. I can travel to the site with my SUV, and all I need running while I am there is the generator for charging batteries. 

Distance to the far side of the field has been an issue. I have found that I need to park in the middle of the field, if I can, and to seed in small chunks to minimize non-seeding flight time. Even with all the recharge and refill breaks, I have still been seeding at between 10 and 15 acres per hour.

A huge bonus the drone has over my manual ground application is the precision-guided GPS. When it was just me driving back and forth hoping to be close to the next pass, it was pretty hit or miss on accuracy of seed disbursement. You might know the feeling of picking a dark patch in the trees and then second-guessing which of the dark patches you were aiming for. Or maybe it was the tall fence post? Either way, seed distribution was a bit chaotic for me.

I can now use the drone to fly the perimeter of the field and map it out by adding waypoints. The drone then plans out its flight path within those boundaries. I can add in any obstacles or areas I don’t want seeded. 

I can adjust the flight pattern as I see fit and then save the flight plan. Then I say go. The drone can now carry out its task virtually on its own. When the battery or seed tank gets low, I bring it home to change a battery, fill the seed tank and send it on its way again. 

It remembers the precise spot where it stopped and resumes its journey. I accidentally found out that when the controller loses contact with the drone, the drone keeps working without me. That’s a good employee to have around.

I covered a lot of ground last summer, adding mostly a legume top dress to several pastures. 

The drought of 2021 and 2022 was hard on my clovers so I am excited to bump my legume content back up. Clovers work well in my environment, but I am also adding a variety of different legumes and broadleaf plants to try to increase the polyculture. With the rain last summer, we had some amazing catches.

In addition to pasture improvement, the drone gives me an option to seed fall cover crops on a neighbour’s grain fields to get some fall and early winter grazing. 

In Canada, with our short growing season, it is difficult to get a crop seeded and have enough time for growth before the killing frost. With the drone, I can sneak out before harvest and top-dress the seeds above the existing crop. The idea is to get the seeds out there as the crop ripens, hopefully get a bit of rain to cause germination, and then have the new seedlings ready to jump when the cash crop is harvested. My grain farmer is happy with this as he will get a living root throughout the fall and benefit from the animal impact and nutrient recycling back to his soil.

I don’t own a lot of equipment. If you recall, I don’t even own a tractor here on the ranch. Why a drone then? Not only can it save me time and money on the ranch, but I am also looking to expand into another profit centre. I did the math. With any piece of equipment, I would always look at the economics behind owning it. 

You may have heard me say it before: it is okay to own equipment, as long as the economics work. Over the years with me calculating hundreds of gross margins on equipment, a common reason equipment is not economical on the farm is because it doesn’t get used enough. The same is true for my ranch. My drone needs to work more so we started offering custom seeding to local producers. If the equipment is sitting here, it might as well be working. If I am not here to run it, I have others trained to keep the drone working. It never hurts to have another positive profit centre.

It is not very common yet, but custom drone seeding is now a thing in Alberta. I, for one, am enjoying being a high-tech redneck with my new toys. Check out the Greener Pastures Ranching YouTube or Facebook page to see the Mini Pro 3 capturing the T-10 in action.

Move over Tom Cruise, Top Gun Top Dressing is here.

Steve Kenyon runs Greener Pastures Ranching Ltd. in Busby, Alta. Visit the website, call 780-307-6500, email skenyon@greenerpasturesranching.com or find them on Facebook.

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The two institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which entails both schools working together for five years on various programs, notably Olds College’s Smart Farm operation.

The partnership comes as a result of an 800-acre donation west of Craik, Sask., about 85 km north of Moose Jaw, from Margery Steckler and late husband George Steckler to Olds College. It’s the largest such donation the institution has ever received.

The aim of the Smart Farm with the new partnership is to train students and give them opportunities in the technologically advancing agriculture sector, such as with drones and autonomous farming equipment.

“I mean, that’s where farming is going,” Saskatchewan Polytechnic CEO Dr. Larry Rosia said at the two schools’ announcement on Monday last week at that school’s ag equipment technician shop in Saskatoon.

“That’s another example of what we could bring to the partnership as we do a lot of drone training. We have a fleet of drones, and our drones are collecting data. We could share that data with Olds College.”

Smart Farm has over 100 different partners that range from a variety of agriculture companies. Olds College president Stuart Cullum said he believes this will be another valuable asset for students, besides getting to work with another school — namely, to learn how to work with industry, as they will be converging with them in the program.

“There’s a lot of complementary programming. This programming that we don’t have at Olds because we’re very industry-focused on agriculture,” said Cullum. “There’s some things that we do in a real deep way that we can offer to Saskatchewan Polytechnic.”

Rosia noted there’s also the possibility of students and instructors being able to crossover between the two institutions.

“It’s too early to say, but the sky’s the limit as to the opportunity for student exchanges and instructor exchanges,” said Rosia.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic academic chair Deanna Herman sees the partnership as a great opportunity because it upgrades the students from a small-scale operation to a much larger one, giving them the ability to train on tasks they couldn’t before, such as irrigation.

“Our students will have hands-on training and setting up irrigation systems and timing and all those kinds of things.”

Plans are still in the beginning stages for the two institutions, but their focus is to now work together and not compete.

“The past was all about competing, the future is all about partnering and collaborating,” Rosia said.

The MOU will be governed by a joint committee of representatives from both institutions.

— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.

Olds College president Stuart Cullum (l) and Saskatchewan Polytechnic president Dr. Larry Rosia (r) shake hands after signing the MOU. (Liam O’Connor photo)

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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.”

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.

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