CEU Credits: 0.5
Canada’s Smart Farms & the Power of a Smart Farm Network
In this session, attendees will learn about smart farms and the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network and the value it can bring to research, innovation, and knowledge mobilization in the ag tech sector. The session will include an overview of preliminary findings from an ongoing collaborative research project exploring intra-field soil and meteorological variability and commercially available disease models to demonstrate the power of leveraging the network’s capacity and resources.
Dr. Joy Agnew, VP Research, Olds College of Agriculture and Technology
Joy grew up on a grain farm near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and earned her Ph.D. in Ag/Bio Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. At Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, Joy oversees the applied research portfolio and smart farm operations. Applied research at Olds College is focused crop and livestock production with a specialty in technology integration and data utilization to improve productivity and sustainability of food production. Joy also has a leadership role in the development of the College’s Smart Ag Ecosystem, bringing together the academic programming, applied research, strategic partnerships, smart farm operations, and extension & communication activities to help the College meet its goal to be a leader in Smart Agriculture. In 2021, Joy was named one of Canada’s top 50 most influential people in Canadian Ag by Canadian Western Agribition.
Dr. Adrienne Levay, Instructor & Researcher, Agriculture Technology & Applied Research, Lakeland College
Adrienne Levay graduated with a PhD in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems in 2018. She is a two-time Canadian Institutes of Health Research Awardee and was a 4-Year Fellow at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests have included gender and food insecurity in the global south, government school nutrition policy, health ethics, ethics of technology and innovation, developing data-enabled innovations, data literacy and realist methodologies. Currently, she is an Instructor & Researcher at Lakeland College in Alberta, Canada, creating and delivering curriculum for the new Bachelor of Agriculture Technology Degree and is the Lakeland College lead for implementation of the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network’s research activities.
Blake Weiseth, MSc. P.Ag, Applied Research Lead, Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm
Blake Weiseth grew up on a mixed grain and livestock farm near Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Saskatchewan and is a professional agrologist with the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists. Blake also serves as Applied Research Lead at the Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm and holds a Research Chair with Saskatchewan Polytechnic, overseeing a number of applied research and demonstration projects with the goal of developing practical solutions for Canadian farmers. His research focuses on utilization of various data layers to optimize agricultural productivity while limiting adverse environmental impact, with particular focus on water and nutrient use efficiency.