Leonard Retzlaff of Saddleridge Farming bets sunlight will help stabilize the family farm’s income. Located near Rosemary, the farm is operated by Retzlaff, his father Ralph and brothers Philip and Luke. The family raises purebred Charolais cattle, custom backgrounds beef cattle, produces pedigreed alfalfa seed supported by leafcutter bees and grows canola, corn, wheat and winter rye. All their cropland is irrigated with pivots, which require a significant supply of electricity, one of the main reasons the family pursued solar power generation.

Launched in 2001 by three ambitious New Zealand scientists, AbacusBio is an agricultural science and tech consultancy whose sole purpose is to help ag businesses and farmer organizations maximize their research investments. The company creates custom strategies, systems and platforms built on genomic and genetic data to optimize crop and livestock breeding, business operations and value chain performance. It helps clients make sense of massive, complex data sets across multiple interconnected facets of agricultural business and production. “There is often a gap between the academic and the business sides of agriculture,” said John Crowley, managing director of AbacusBio Canada. “We can walk between the two.

Digital innovation is seemingly everywhere in agriculture. In the field, or soon to be, this collection of new and in-development products, much of it digitally enhanced, primarily aims to improve decision-making and increase efficiency of farm operations.

Wilfred Romanowski took over the operation of his family’s Sturgeon County farm in 1961. Though his family once raised cattle and chickens, today the Romanowski farm 20 minutes north of Edmonton strictly produces field crops.

Born and raised in a small agrarian village in India’s Punjab region, that nation’s breadbasket, Balwinder Kumar has been immersed in agriculture since childhood. His family grew forages for their small cattle herd, and though his parents encouraged him to study medicine, he was intensely curious about farming processes and problem solving. “Going into agricultural research was a natural progression,” he said. Since he earned his PhD from Punjab Agricultural University, his research has allowed him to act on his scientific curiosity while interacting with farmers. After earning an undergraduate degree in agronomy, he completed a doctorate in crop science while also studying crop physiology, crop production, genetics and soil science. He focused on how agronomics can improve farm efficiency and productivity while maintaining soil health. He drew upon this interconnected foundation as a full professor and associate director at his alma mater, where he led a team of 25 scientists and support staff. His immersive experience continues to serve him as a research scientist at Lakeland College in Vermilion.

More than ever, farmers and researchers recognize the benefits of good soil health. For example, healthy soil is better able to absorb water, which reduces evaporation so plants can better withstand drought and other adverse conditions. Supportive soil conditions also help crops better withstand pests and diseases.

Over the past 20 years, many Alberta seed plants have modernized operations with the cutting-edge equipment of the day. Such enhancements benefit customers and staff. “Whether it’s a farm or a seed plant, technology drives results,” said Monica Klaas, general manager of Alberta Seed Processors. “The more you produce from one square foot of plant space, the better your bottom line.”

Just as you test drive a car before you buy, a new program is focused on the testing and adoption of emerging ag technology. Launched in May 2026, the Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network (AIVA) was founded by Farm Credit Canada (FCC), the Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative (EMILI) and the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network. The network is a standardized testing system that supports both innovators and farmers by validating new farm technology products.

Better known as wireworm, click beetle larvae are trouble. Because it has been difficult to determine which wireworm species are found in a field, this has made response tricky. With new research by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), time and guesswork may be eliminated.

Prairie farmers will soon have access to non-chemical means in their fight against wireworm. Soon-to-be available RNA interference technology will enable new tools to combat the pernicious pest. Carried out by federal research scientist John Laurie in Lethbridge, the molecular biologist has spent most of his career working with RNA.