Feds invest in precision agriculture technology to enhance competition and efficiency

Via the AgriInnovate program, Canada invests $875,000 for Ukko Agro’s development of an analytics platform to controlling diseases and insects in crops.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com

Ukko Agro Inc., has received $875,000 in funding from the AgriInnovate program to develop a planned analytics program—a precision agriculture technology tool—to control insect and disease concerns in crops.

The AgriInnovate program comes under the domain of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, whereby the Government of Canada provides repayable contributions for projects whose goal is to increase the commercialization, adoption and/or demonstration of innovative products, technologies, processes or services that increase Canada’s agri-sector competitiveness and sustainability.

In the announcement made by Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau noted that Ukko Agro’s platform would provide decision-makers up to seven days advantage on field-level spray recommendations to manage risks more proactively to crops, improve food production sustainability, and ultimately increase yield.

This predictive analytics platform analyzes disconnected weather, soil and a farmer’s individual crop data to provide advice on crop input applications up to one week ahead of any crop stress. It promises a fast ROI (return on investment).

Headquartered in Toronto, Ukko Agro operates at the intersection of plant and data science, utilizing data science from the ag research community and placing it in the hands of farmers, agronomists and crop consultants.

Company information available at https://ukko.ag/.