{"id":509774,"date":"2026-03-02T16:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T16:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509774\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T16:45:07","slug":"a-new-home-for-digital-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509774\/","title":{"rendered":"A new home for digital agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers in the University of Winnipeg\u2019s TerraByte lab<\/a> are spearheading the creation of a provincial hub for applied research in digital agriculture that will bring together academics, farmers, government, and industry partners to further cement Manitoba\u2019s reputation as a leading agricultural province.<\/p>\n

A $460,000 grant from two commodity groups, Manitoba Crop Alliance<\/a> and Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers<\/a>, has already enabled the Manitoba Consortium for Digital Agriculture (MCDA) to hire its first staff member.<\/p>\n

Elena GomezHaro is the MCDA\u2019s Industry and Funding Partner Liaison. She brings 20 years of experience to the role, which she began in January.<\/p>\n

GomezHaro has a master\u2019s degree in food science from the University of Manitoba and was an industry liaison and research manager at RRC Polytech\u2019s Prairie Research Kitchen. She also worked at Manitoba Agriculture\u2019s Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie. Her industry experience includes roles in marketing, quality assurance, and product development with BioChambers, Prairie West Ice Cream, PepsiCo, and Danone.<\/p>\n

GomezHaro\u2019s job involves networking with industry groups and grower associations, identifying research opportunities, writing proposals and grants, and organizing and attending events, including an annual symposium. She will also develop short-term and long-term strategies to guide the MCDA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to build on the significant progress already made in digital agriculture by clearly understanding our current landscape and identifying the key stakeholders who shape it,\u201d she said. \u201cOur goal is to help these stakeholders connect, strengthen their relationships, and, if possible, help them collaborate with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Computer science is driving agricultural innovation in the 21st century, just as engineering did in the 20th century. By working collaboratively on applied research that unites researchers and aligns with industry needs, everything from funding applications to the development of transformative digital tools can be streamlined, GomezHaro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to see the MCDA facilitate new collaborations between researchers in the digital agriculture space,\u201d said Katherine Stanley, Manitoba Crop Alliance\u2019s Research Program Manager, Special Crops. \u201cIt is our hope that bringing together peers from universities and colleges across Manitoba will ensure farmers\u2019 questions are being answered more efficiently and precisely than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think farmer-led research will lead to a better understanding of how digital tools work and consequently, to which problems they should be applied,\u201d said Daryl Domitruk, Research Project Manager at Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers. \u201cImportantly, we seek to calibrate farmers\u2019 expectations and increase their confidence in selecting digital applications for their farms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Jitendra Paliwal<\/a>, UWinnipeg\u2019s Vice-President, Research<\/a> and Innovation, said the MCDA \u201crepresents an important step in building a truly collaborative, pan-Manitoba ecosystem for digital agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy aligning talent, infrastructure, and partnerships, the MCDA will accelerate the development and adoption of digital tools that enhance productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness, and position Manitoba as a national leader in the future of agriculture,\u201d Dr. Paliwal said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Important first domino\u2019<\/p>\n

The MCDA is still in the formation stage. It doesn\u2019t yet have a website, a mission statement, or a governance structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a brick-and-mortar building,\u201d said Dr. Michael Beck<\/a>, a TerraByte Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Computer Science<\/a>, who applied for the industry grant. \u201cIt\u2019s an important first domino. It\u2019s a consortium of people coming together and working under the same idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the MCDA began in 2024, when Manitoba Crop Alliance released a three-year strategic plan that included a \u201chopes and dreams\u201d call-out to identify future opportunities for investment in research and market development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to hear grand, big visions of what should be done in the agricultural sector,\u201d said Dr. Beck, who had noticed similar hubs for digital ag research already existed in other provinces and countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have these big centres for developing new tools and technologies in agriculture, and they have a massive amount of funding behind them, with cross-regional support from industry associations, governments, and universities,\u201d he said. \u201cI was afraid that Manitoba might fall behind, so I said, \u2018Let\u2019s pitch that idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Digital agriculture might bring to mind drones and autonomous tractors. But Manitoba Crop Alliance\u2019s board of directors liked how Dr. Beck\u2019s proposal advanced understandings of how digital ag technologies can be used alongside traditional areas of agricultural research, like plant breeding, pathology, and soil science.<\/p>\n

MCDA research areas will also include artificial intelligence, robotics, embedded systems, sensors and cameras, and smart hardware.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this stuff is becoming more and more affordable and easy to use, so the question is, how can this be utilized and incorporated into farming,\u201d Dr. Beck said. \u201cThat is super exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research and ideas at all stages of development are welcome at the MCDA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe centre will run the full spectrum of technology readiness levels, from experimental research to proof-of-concept prototypes all the way to having a finished product.\u201d Dr. Beck said.<\/p>\n

While the MCDA may initially operate as a research centre or institute<\/a> within UWinnipeg, the plan is to make it pan-institutional and inter-disciplinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to invite and include other post-secondary institutions,\u201d GomezHaro said. \u201cWe want to foster a collaborative environment. This is for the benefit of Manitoba.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers in the University of Winnipeg\u2019s TerraByte lab are spearheading the creation of a provincial hub for applied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[3878,49,48,202776,44700,32914,28019,202777,202778,22073],"class_list":["post-509774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-agriculture","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-department-of-applied-computer-science","tag-department-of-physics","tag-digital-agriculture","tag-faculty-of-science","tag-michael-beck","tag-terrabyte","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}