Canadian agri-food exporters face bumpy road

The Next Agricultural Revolution and Canada

Meanwhile, is Canada well-placed to be competitive in the next agricultural revolution?

According to John Stackhouse, who pilots the research of the Royal Bank of Canada on major economic, social and environmental issues, there have been some promising initiatives like a protein supercluster based in Saskatoon but much needs to be done for Canada to attain the Farmer 4.0 model. “We’ll need a lot more agriculture technology, and a new generation of skills to harness tech platforms, artificial intelligence and advanced machines, from precision drones to robotic harvesters.”

And he warns that with a historic retirement wave in progress, young Canadians are showing few signs of filling the gap. “By the mid-decade, one quarter of our farmers will be 65 or older. We may be short of 123,000 agriculture workers by the end of the decade.”

In an analysis published in The Gazette of Montreal, Stackhouse opined that technology and talent will not be enough. “We also need more capital to finance Farmer 4.0, and that require some changes to the economics of food production, which are not currently in the producer’s favor.”