Price & Data Quotes (PDQ) is a Prairiewide daily cash bids website launched in September 2015 by the Alberta Wheat Commission. To celebrate the price discovery platform’s tenth year, Alberta Grains asks users to fill out a short survey located on the PDQ homepage at pdqinfo.ca. The survey will remain open until Sept. 30, and the responses will be used to improve the service.

A few kilometres from the family farm where he grew up, Brad McGhee sits on an old office chair. It is next to a work bench in a shop he slowly modified to support his business as an independent mechanic. Once a cold storage shed with a dirt floor, the metal-clad building is now heated and boasts a cement floor and insulated walls. He also installed roof trusses and carried out additional engineering to qualify for commercial insurance.

I am the fifth generation of my family to operate our Wetaskiwin area farm. In keeping with tradition, I have given it my own unique spin in the form of a garlic products business.

Ag continues to digitize at a rapid pace. The ag sector is increasingly more about automation and AI and less about buttons and belts. Throughout the industry, bright minds and innovative companies take risks and push toward data-driven solutions. GrainsWest  sat down with five organizations that aim to make life easier and more profitable for farmers while attempting to derisk and demystify emerging tech.

Real Garant began his work life at 18 farming grain and forages with his father and two brothers in the Donnelly area. In winter, he took a job at a local sawmill operated by relatives. A general labourer, he was inquisitive and bombarded maintenance staff with questions. Over following seasons, he serviced air and electrical systems and began welding and machining various parts. To beef up his farm skillset, he took an apprentice machining course at NAIT. Soon after, he established a small shop on the farm. Customer demand grew quickly. He rented his land to his brothers and threw himself into the launch of his own full time business, Donnelly Machining and Fabricating. The business serves a wide variety of clients in agriculture and agri-food manufacturing, the heavy equipment and forestry industries and even schools and hospitals. It’s a go-to business in the Upper Peace Region, but it is Garant’s 2022 product the Spider Hitch, which launched a second enterprise that carries international potential.

If it’s true you’re only as good as your data, the thinkers at Hebert Group are exceptionally good. Led by farmer Kristjan Hebert and CFO Evan Shout, the agribusiness recently partnered with Stratus Ag Research to survey 417 farmers about Canada’s agricultural policy landscape.

Until recently, Saskatchewan attracted less than one per cent of Canadian tech venture capital dollars. In 2019, Conexus Credit Union of Regina established its business incubator, Cultivator, to kick-start the province’s modest tech sector. “Saskatchewan was missing out in a big way because we didn’t have this tech ecosystem,” said director Laura Mock.

When Ian and Jennifer Guldberg set up a small milling operation to transform their own grains into feed for their sheep and poultry, the couple soon realized they’d hit upon a business opportunity. They formally began a small, direct-to-customer feed business in 2021.

Vancouver’s ClimateDoor helps clean technology companies raise capital, access government grants and create business partnerships at home and abroad. On a weeklong Team Canada Trade Mission in February, the business developer co-ordinated meetings between Canadian clean tech and ag tech businesses and the Australian business community in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Then-federal trade minister Mary Ng led the mission, which was delivered by Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service.

The Canadian agriculture sector understands the care and effort it takes to produce high-quality crops. We know this commitment is what sets Canadian malting barley apart. As sustainability becomes a top priority for end-users, Canada is uniquely positioned to meet these demands thanks to the stewardship and innovation of our farmers.