The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has announced five projects to be funded through its most recent open competitions. One of the winners is SmartGRO Bioengineering Inc. based in Calgary, Alberta. 

SmartGRO Bioengineering Inc. has developed an AI-powered horticultural lighting system that reduces electricity use by up to 80 per cent compared to industry-leading alternatives. The system uses machine vision, hyperspectral imaging, and environmental sensors to autonomously optimize energy efficiency and manage crops. The project aims to validate the technology’s impact on energy savings and crop nutrition, while developing a machine learning model to predict harvest size and further improve light efficiency—supporting cost reduction, lower emissions, and progress toward net-zero agriculture. The total project value is $6,409,003. The project contact is Jared Wolfe at jwolfe@smartgro.com

CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and processors. That means supporting promising efforts with the potential to provide economic or environmental value. 

These new projects take CAAIN’s five-year investment total in emerging agtech to almost $36 million. The 41 supported projects have a combined total value of roughly $115.5M. 

“CAAIN has been funding Canadian agtech R&D for five years—a relatively short period of time,” said CAAIN CEO, Darrell Petras, P.Ag. “Despite our relatively recent start, we have had a significant impact on the Canadian agricultural technology ecosystem. What has played an even greater role than the dollars and guidance we have provided to some truly brilliant technopreneurs is the pace at which the sector is evolving. Much of this incredible speed is directly attributable to the massive and rapidly growing influence of artificial intelligence on the agricultural sector, whose importance to the national economy in terms of jobs and GDP cannot be overstated. What was inconceivable a few years ago is now routine.”  

All five project summaries can be viewed online at https://caain.ca/our-projects/

Source: Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network November 20, 2025 news release