The Government of Canada will invest up to $497,562 in the Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec (APMQ) to develop a modern decision support system (DSS) for lettuce growers, through the AgriScience Program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Farms.com reported.
The system will combine forecast weather with crop data collected under commercial growing conditions. It will draw on a remote sensing technology developed by researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and on data from VegForecast, a commercial crop intelligence platform made by Canadian agtech company Innoptech. By putting weather and crop monitoring together, it is meant to help growers follow crop growth, plan operations and choose the best time to harvest.
It builds on AAFC research that has already produced a decision-making tool using drone imagery to analyse lettuce growth and predict the best harvest dates. That technology can give harvest forecasts at least two weeks ahead under commercial conditions, giving farmers more time to plan.
A key aim is to ease labour shortages: with better crop and harvest predictions, producers can allocate workers and other resources more efficiently and cut costs, and harvesting at the right time can also reduce food waste. Growers will give feedback during the project to improve the predictive tools. "The challenges faced by our vegetable growers are complex, but innovation can provide practical solutions," said Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
APMQ members produce more than 70% of Quebec's vegetables, and the association runs Place des producteurs, the largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Eastern Canada. Its president, Catherine Lefebvre, said the association "enthusiastically welcomes any opportunity to push innovation in agriculture, where productivity and competitiveness issues are crucial".
Photo: On-chan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Farms.com
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