NRCC funding Canada-UK sustainable ag collaborations

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is pleased to announce that 7 Canadian firms have been approved to pursue collaborative projects with UK partners through the Canada-UK industrial research and development call for proposals delivered by the NRC and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The successful projects are focussed on improving productivity and sustainability in the agricultural industry, including crop, livestock, and/or aquaculture systems using precision and data-driven solutions.

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) is providing advisory services and up to $2.9 million in research and development funding to support seven collaboration projects.

The poultry projects include:

• Up to $300,000 to TrustBIX Inc. (Edmonton, Alta.) for a project with Arden Biotechnology (UK) to extend the development of their natural feed supplement technology and apply it to the Canadian poultry and other livestock sectors.
• Up to $376,247 to Mara Renewables Corporation (Dartmouth, N.S.) for a project with Devenish (UK) to develop the next-generation of algae-derived products for use in poultry production in the UK, Canada, and other commercial markets worldwide.

The other initiatives include:

• Up to $600,000 to JCA Technologies (Winnipeg, Man.) for a project with Precision Decisions (UK) and Farmscan Ag Limited (UK) to develop an integrated precision agriculture platform that provides data from agricultural machine control applications to be used for planning, analytics and deploying intelligent task direction to a fleet of machines.
• Up to $476,000 to Société pour l’information industrielle (SII Canada) (Montréal, Que.) for a project with AirBorne Robotics (UK) and ADAS (UK) to develop a specialized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prototype and semi-autonomous remote sensing tool for in-field assessment, identification and diagnosis of problematic areas.
• Up to $405,000 to Bow Valley Genetics (Rosemary, Alta.) for a project with Raft Solutions Limited (UK), Dyneval Limited (UK) and Ostara Biomedical Limited (UK) to develop innovative new technologies related to bovine fertility and advanced breeding techniques.
• Up to $457,830 to Sona Nanotech (Halifax, N.S.) for a project with Clarity Biosolutions Limited (UK) and Bond Digital Health Ltd. (UK) to develop a new highly accurate, objective test to rapidly detect, manage, control and ultimately eradicate bovine tuberculosis.
• Up to $338,121 to Innovasea Marine Systems (Bedford, N.S.) for a project with RS Aqua Limited (UK) to develop an early warning system for the aquaculture industry that provides notification of potential and imminent harmful algal blooms which can contribute to higher incidences of disease and elevated mortality on fish farms.