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By DAVID HILL
HEADOF
tHE CLASS
Water, landandpeople
Canada’snatural resources key tofeeding theworld
Farming has changed—and
it’s about to change even more. With
current forecasts suggesting a global pop-
ulation of more than nine billion by 2050,
the opportunities and challenges in agri-
culture are going to increase in number
and complexity. We will need to employ
technologies, processes and approaches
that may seem more akin to the world of
high-tech business than food production.
Canada is one of only five or six coun-
tries in the world that have the necessary
capital in land, water, energy, finance and
human resources to significantly increase
exports of food and nutrition to meet
this emerging demand. At the same time,
domestic and global consumers will be
more concerned about the environmental
impacts of food production and will be
increasingly sensitive to issues of food
safety. How we use land, water, fertilizers,
chemicals and energy, and how we care
for animals, will all influence the choices
consumers make when they purchase
their food. If Canada is to take advantage
of the economic opportunities in these
emerging markets, we will need to be
well ahead of the demand curve in our
approach to agriculture.
So how do we meet these challenges
head on? Education will play an increas-
ingly critical role. Future economic
success for Canada, as well as for primary
producers and agri-business, will rest to a
large degree on how well we capture more
value from what is produced. This value
is critical if producers are to economically
implement the most leading-edge agricul-
tural practices and validate their environ-
mental performance.
Canadian producers have already en-
tered the era of data-driven agriculture,
with the use of GPS technologies to
improve seeding, chemical use and crop
quality. These now-standard practices
are evolving to include satellite imagery
assessments and the use of optical sen-
sors on unmanned, remote-controlled
aerial vehicles to develop detailed pre-
scriptions for fertility and watering in
the case of irrigation.
As more data is collected, we’ll have
more opportunities to create even more
advanced processes and to enhance crop
quality and traceability. Already, students
in colleges and universities are being
exposed to these new technologies—and
the emergence of agriculture as a driving
demand for these technologies is becom-
ing apparent.
The emerging skill sets necessary to
meet the expanded global demand for
food and nutrition are likely to be quite
different from what we understood farm-
ing to be in the past. Career training in
advanced plant and animal science will
need to be refined and expanded—meet-
ing global demand is likely to require
new crops and market-specific foods.
Applying high-tech approaches to da-
ta-driven agriculture will require a new
generation of well-trained practitioners
to focus on agriculture and to establish
Canada as a leading global supplier
of not just safe, high-quality food and
nutrition, but of new technologies and
practices that can be employed around
the world. Advances in environmental
science and system-wide approaches to
managing land, water and energy will be
needed to demonstrate the highest levels
of environmental performance in food
production.
The business side of agriculture will
be very dynamic, with significant new
value-added agri-business opportunities.
There is a critical need to train people
to pursue agricultural opportunities in
international business in order to expand
our skills in competitive market intel-
ligence that will lead to investments in
value-added agricultural production and
new market access. The global demands
for food and nutrition will require individ-
uals skilled not only in the best business
practices, but in diplomacy and the ability
to forge strong and lasting relationships
and partnerships.
Already, leading academic institutions
in Alberta and elsewhere are embark-
ing on activities to ensure that students
at their institutions will be well placed
to be actors in this brave new world of
agriculture. Integrated programming,
in concert with industrial partners, is
being enhanced and new streams are
being developed. Now it’s time to ramp up
recruitment.
David Hill is the director of centres and
institutes and research advocacy at the
University of Lethbridge. He has more than
40 years’ experience in natural resource
management in water and agriculture, is
a past president of the Canadian National
Committee for Irrigation and Drainage, and
a past member of the Rosenberg Internation-
al Forum on Water Policy.
Fall
2014
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