The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has announced five projects to be funded as part of recent funding competitions.

CAAIN’s primary mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) is to fund technologicalresponses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and primaryprocessors.The $4,295,657 in ISED dollars CAAIN is committing to these five exciting recipients will take the six-yearinvestment in emerging agtech to almost $41 million and elevate the total value of  55 supported projects to more than$130 million. It is worth noting that of the 30 projects to have completed their CAAIN funding requirements, more thanhalf have successfully gone to market and are generating revenue.

“I have spent more than 20 years in the technology startup investment world and CAAIN’s six-year track record ofsuccessfully supporting innovation is remarkable; but it is less an indicator of our brilliance than it is testament to theinnovative spirit and technical strength of Canada’s vibrant agricultural technology sector,” said CAAIN CEO DarrellPetras, P.Ag. “We are proud to be the tip of such a strong agtech investment spear, but we will not rest on our laurels. Oursuccess to date only encourages us to continue supporting promising Canadian agricultural innovators.”

The five selected projects represent a fascinating diversity and range from a robotic solution to strawberry production-related labour issues to AI-based cucumber harvesting technology:

• Robotic Thinning Tool for Labour Savings and Yield Increase in Tabletop Strawberries
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• AI-Based CO2 Enrichment and Nutrient Management in CEA
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• AI-Guided Robotic Grading & Smart Packhouse Automation for Fresh Tomatoes
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• Smart Harvesting of Cucumbers

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  Voice-Enabled, AI-Assisted Equipment Management Platform

   

For more information on all funded agtech projects, link to https://caain.ca/projects/.

Source: Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network September 3, 2026 news release