Photo: 4AG Robotics
Three businesses and a university in the Thompson-Okanagan are among the 28 entities that will benefit this year from the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation.
More than $15 million is being invested into 19 projects and nine training programs, including $5 million from BCCAI, and $10 in cash and in-kind from the agritech industry.
The Thompson-Okanagan businesses and institutions that have been selected for this year’s program are:
• Kelowna’s AgriForest Bio-Technologies has a $678,000 project to scale up an Internet of Things (IoT) enabling and energy-efficient greenhouse-based vertical grow system for plant tissue culture production. AgriForest Bio Technologies will partner with OM Electric, Maxx Installation, Mike Irrigation, Irrigation Direct Canada, Global Industries, CY Grower, and Nutrient Ag Solution on the project.
• Salmon Arm’s Takachar Limited is developing portable, low-cost systems to convert biomass residues into products like biochar and biofuels, enabling rural B.C. communities to manage biomass and generate revenue through a project investment of $199,000. Takachar Limited is partnering with Carbon Pilot Inc. and Silvatec Consulting Ltd. on its project.
“This support made possible a first-of-a-kind pilot in the Okanagan area, turning hazardous, wildfire-prone residues into agricultural amendments,” CEO Kevin Kung said in a press release. “By operating this alongside our local community partner, we pushed the technology to its limits and learned tremendous lessons along the way.”
• Salmon Arm’s 4AG Robotics has a $1.47-million project to work with Champ’s Mushroom Farms to pilot fully autonomous, AI-enabled mushroom-harvesting robots that boost yields by 15% and halve production costs.
• Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops is providing two-day hands-on training sessions at its Williams Lake campus and in the Kootenay region, focused on flight practice and real-world farm and ranch uses of drones through a $110,000 project investment.
“Our province is home to vibrant agriculture and technology sectors, and our government is standing strong to keep them safe during times of global uncertainty,” B.C. Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Diana Gibson said.
“Through the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation, our government is bolstering our economy and leveraging our strengths to help local agritech and agrifood businesses bring more B.C. goods to market, advance food security and create good jobs for people by growing industry here at home.”
Last year, Westbank’s RMD Environmental Group was a BCCAI beneficiary. It supports the preservation of Westbank First Nations’ medicinal plans by developing a blue elderberry propagation protocol integrating Indigenous knowledge and perspectives with greenhouse technologies through a project investment of $99,000.