The Federal Government this week announced an investment to support the adoption of clean technologies throughout Canada.
The $15 million investment is part of the Agricultural Clean Technology Program and will support nearly 50 projects across the country.
“The fight against climate change aims to … help producers innovate and adopt more sustainable agricultural practices,” said the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “New investments in the Agricultural Clean Technology Program will support their acquisition of energy-efficient equipment to increase their agricultural productivity and net profits, while improving food security in Canada.”
Vancouver-based Terramera is set to receive a significant portion of the funding—up to $2 million—to advance their work to enable regenerative agriculture at scale.
The award-winning Terramera this month hosted Minister Bibeau to showcase the work underway to provide more consistent and precise measurement of soil carbon and soil health using the company’s artificial intelligence and machine learning platform.
“Investing in soil health and climate-smart regenerative agriculture is one of the most important issues for Canada and the world,” stated Karn Manhas, Terramera CEO. “Improving soil health and carbon in soils helps lower costs of inputs while improving outputs and nutrition, which means higher profits for farmers.”
Manhas, who founded Terramera, says the funds will support the soil and carbon measurement technology his BC startup is building.
“This critical infrastructure will result in better tools for agronomists, and support farmers and ranchers to make this opportunity a reality,” he believes.
Last year Terramera received $8 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to commercialize its product and more recently $1 million from the BC Innovative Clean Energy Fund.
A total of five projects will be supported under this ACT Program investment. The federal funding is focused on three priority areas: green energy and energy efficiency; precision agriculture; and bio-economy solutions.
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