Exchanging information sounds simple, right? 
    

You talk, I listen. 
  

I talk, you listen. 
  

We learn.
    

What’s so hard about that? It’s at the very heart of communicating.
    

The free flow of information is a right we hold dear. It’s an important part of our value system. Informed decisions are based on information flowing freely, being exchanged.
    

Informed opinion leaders are valued by society; their role is entrenched in communication models, and I’d argue, more vital all the time as society gets increasingly complicated.
    

To varying extents, we’re all opinion leaders, more so with the broad availability of digital communications. The conversations we have, the decisions we made, the opinions we form and share with others are informed by free flowing information . . . and knowing where to get it.
    

That’s where something called the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity comes in. This new venture was unveiled in June in Ottawa. It’s designed to be a resource for the free flow of information about the food we eat and just as importantly, for information about food’s origins -- that is, about the farms and farmers who produce it. 
    

The centre, an arm of Farm and Food Care, has its hands full. Its research shows 90 per cent of Canadians admit to knowing little about farming or food production. 
    

In real numbers, that means more than 31 million people in this country are in the dark about the very food they eat. 
    

On the plus side, the centre’s research also shows 60 per cent want more information about their food.
    

Technology in food production is a conversation many people are having, without much information to go on. To me, this is one of the greatest opportunities for the new centre – give clear, balanced and truthful information about farming and food production, including the role of technology, and you will be filling a huge gap.
    

Examples of such benefits were clear when the University of Guelph presented a showcase of promising technology it’s been supporting since 2014, through a Dragon’s Den-like program called Gryphons’ LAAIR (the gryphon is the U of G mascot; LAAIR is an acronym for Leading to Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research).
    

Few such funding programs exist anywhere in agriculture. The sector has been good at creating a pipeline for the likes of new plant varieties to get from the field to commercial plant breeders. But when it comes to innovative products and technologies, where a financial boost is needed to get the innovation over the hump – creation of a prototype, perhaps the money just isn’t there.
    

The Gryphons’ LAAIR showcase offered a glimpse of what’s possible with a little extra support. 
    

For example, showcase participants heard of a nanoparticle extracted from sweet corn that has a special attraction with water. Among its many uses, it produces one of the best moisturizers anywhere, and can also be used as a food stabilizer and endurance drink additive. It’s being developed and commercialized by a start-up company called Mirexus; plans to build a production factory in 2017 are underway.
    

Participants also learned about a technology called Guelph Intelligent Greenhouse Automation Systems. It’s a robotics system that monitors plants, harvests fruit, scouts for disease and picks fruit. Prof. Medhat Mousa, an engineering professor at Guelph, noted 30 per cent or so of the cost of production for greenhouse vegetables in Ontario can be attributed to labour . . . if you can find it in the first place.  
    

As well, Prof. Praveen Saxena told participants about his micro-plants project – specifically citing micro apples and micro hazelnuts – being developed through micropropagation in the University’s Gosling Research Institute for Plant Preservation, in conjunction with Mori Essex tree fruit (worldwide distribution) and Harster Greenhouses (commercial application). 
    

Like the rest of the world, technology and agriculture are getting more complex, complicated and interdependent. Feeding the world depends on them both succeeding, with research, funding and societal support.