Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019).

The one factor that a farmer cannot control is the weather. The ability to generate accurate forecasts for regionsx000D
as small as a farm field, a day or two in advance of harmful events, can be the difference between life and deathx000D
for the crops. Reliable forecasting (2 to 3 days) of damaging conditions such as catastrophic killer frosts, highx000D
winds, continued drought, or other conditions that might hit the farm gives the farmer the knowledge needed tox000D
engage the best mitigation strategy. Niagara College (NC) Agriculture & Environmental Technologiesx000D
Innovation Centre (AETIC) is requesting funding to purchase an advanced heavy-duty easy-to-use ruggedx000D
rover, rover prototyping hardware, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and sensors, and a high-performancex000D
computer. Rovers, UAS (also known as drones), and modern high-performance computing can providex000D
numerical weather forecasting, decision support, farm management help, and actionable data - all withx000D
precision agriculture techniques. Precision agriculture involves the use of modern hardware, tools, and data tox000D
support farm management practices and actions, to increase profitability and foster environmental stewardship.x000D
Dr. Mike Duncan, the NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges (IRCC) in Precision Agriculture &x000D
Environmental Technologies, leads the AETIC team. Together they will collaborate with industry partners tox000D
support and develop rover smart data collection, automation, and sensor packages, as well as UAS datax000D
collection and analysis to identify crop disease and deficiencies; and enhanced numerical weather prediction.x000D
The NC team has trained and experienced UAS operators, and has a 40-acre campus vineyard and multiplex000D
partner farm sites to test the prototypes. The initial farmers that will benefit are vineyards, apple growers, grainx000D
farmers, and hazelnut producers, who are all SMEs. These four producer groups represent more than 29,200x000D
SME farming operations in Ontario, and more than 177,000 SME farming operations in Canada. Thex000D
equipment will enable current partnerships to advance significantly, and it will create opportunities for newx000D
partnerships with farm, crop, and technology SMEs.