Featured projects

Working collaboratively to accelerate digital agriculture

Innovation Farms is unique in Canada in that it operates across two full-scale commercial farms to test and validate new technologies to bring them from pre-commercial to market, showcase technology demonstrations, and share insights to increase understanding of and access to digital agriculture tools.

Read 2025 Project Summaries

Learn about EMILI Activities

EMILI partners on a number of digital agriculture activities each year to increase productivity, sustainability, and profitability across the agriculture and agri-food sector.

 

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Current Activities

Past Activities

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MacGregor

Grosse Isle

AIVA Network

AgExpert Field and Accounting Software

FCC's AgExpert software uses farm data to provide insights such as estimating on-farm carbon sequestration and providing footprint assessments.

Agi3 Crop Sentry System

The Agi3 Crop Sentry system collects daily multispectral point cloud and sensor data throughout the season.

Alterra Innovation GrainTracker

EMILI is working with Alterra Innovation to validate its GrainTracker system, which provides track-and-trace technology to digitize grain inventory records.

Arable Mark 3

MacGregor (2025)

EMILI worked with Arable to evaluate the benefits of adopting its in-field irrigation monitoring technology on prairie potato production. 

ATP’s Nutriscan

Grosse Isle (2023)

Soil samples collected from a 2023  canola nitrogen ramp trial were analyzed with ATP’s NutriScan diagnostic tool.

Autonomous Pivot Centre Pivot Monitor

EMILI is testing Autonomous Pivot’s intelligent platform with onboard cameras and sensors to measure soil moisture and crop health.

BASF xarvio® FIELD MANAGER

EMILI will demonstrate the xarvioⓇ FIELD MANAGER platform which helps producers make informed field management decisions.

BioScout Airborne Spore Monitoring System

EMILI will validate the ability to detect airborne disease spores early in potatoes with BioScout’s monitoring devices.

Bushel Plus MAD Concave

Access to combines during harvest of multiple crop types will allow Bushel Plus (soon to be BranValt) to validate the MAD Concave X9 Split Frame.

Bushel Plus SmartPan System™

Access to combines during corn and soybean harvest allows Bushel Plus Ltd. to evaluate the ROI of their SmartPan System™.

Cellar Insights Smart Storage Monitoring

A potato storage bin is equipped with sensors to actively monitor storage environment conditions and alert if there is spoilage risk.

Corteva Agriscience Spray Drone Trials

Corteva Agriscience is working in fields across Innovation Farms to conduct research on fungicide and herbicide applications using a spray drone.

Crop Intelligence Farming Ultra Hardware

Using the Crop Intelligence Farming Ultra hardware package, EMILI is gaining insights on WDYP in various crops.

Cross-Canada OZ Robot Collaboration

Grosse Isle (2025)

EMILI is collaborating with other smart farms to demonstrate the Naïo OZ robot in various Canadian crops.

Duck Foot Parts Header Paddle Tines

EMILI is demonstrating paddle tines that are installed on a combine header to increase efficiency, reduce header loss, and help manage straw residue.

Elmer’s Manufacturing HIVE Motherbin

Grosse Isle (2025)

EMILI is collaborating with Elmer's Manufacturing to test their 8,250 bushel portable grain storage solution, the 225T HIVE Motherbin.

Elmer’s Manufacturing HaulMaster 2300 Grain Cart

EMILI is collaborating with Elmer’s Manufacturing to test the HaulMaster 2300 moisture sensors and efficiency.

Elmer’s Manufacturing Super 7 Harrow Bar

EMILI is evaluating the economics and efficiencies of Elmer's Manufacturing 70 ft vs 90 ft Super 7 Harrow Bar.

Fusarium head blight risk mapping tool comparison

Grosse Isle (2023)

EMILI compared two FHB risk mapping models to validate the relationship between current weather patterns and disease risk.

Geco Strategic Weed Management AI Tool

EMILI is working with Geco Strategic Weed Management to assess the performance of their AI software for proactive weed management.

GrainFox Sinoa

EMILI will be testing and validating the grain market insights from GrainFox’s Sinoa, an AI-powered grain market analyst.

John Deere HarvestLab™ 3000

EMILI is demonstrating the HarvestLab™ 3000's ability to provide continuous monitoring of harvest quantity and quality in real time.

MacDon Digital Agriculture Collaboration

Having access to MacDon’s high-performance harvesting equipment and related resources increases EMILI's ability to test agtech tools on Innovation Farms.

Metos iScout

Grosse Isle (2023-2024)

EMILI uses an iSCOUT® mobile app to monitor insect traps and identify specific insect species on the farm.

Metos Yield Prediction Model

Grosse Isle (2024)

Live and predictive information from seven METOS® weather stations provides insight into disease forecasting, yield predictions, and local weather events.

Miraterra platform

EMILI is evaluating the quality of Miraterra's AI companion's analysis based on seasonal prompts.

OpticAg Connected Farm Platform

The OpticAg Connected Farm Platform integrates farm data, weather information, and sensor data into a single operational view.

Picketa Systems LENS™

EMILI will test the Picketa Systems LENS™ tissue scanner which can provide plant tissue analysis in seconds.

Redekop Manufacturing Seed Control Unit

Combines equipped with Redekop Manufacturing’s weed seed control units will gather ROI metrics from controlling weeds and reducing herbicide applications.

SeedMaster Ultra SR Single Rank Drill

EMILI will validate an application use case of the SeedMaster Ultra SR single rank drill in peas as a planter alternative.

Sensor network

Grosse Isle (2024)

We have set up Internet of Things sensors to provide vital insights to inform sustainable and profitable crop production decisions.

TerraWave Inventory Management Sensors

EMILI is working with with TerraWave to validate its inventory management sensors on Innovation Farms.

Ukko Agro ForeSite Software

Grosse Isle (2025)

EMILI is testing how Ukko Agro's ForeSite software provides insights on soil moisture and flea beetle pressure.

Ukko Agro Weather Stations

Grosse Isle (2023-2024)

Live and predictive information from Ukko Agro's weather station provides insight into weather, crop growth stages, and crop disease.

UT FINCH Satellite Crop Residue Mapping

Working with University of Toronto's Aerospace Team, EMILI is ground truthing a hyperspectral satellite that maps crop and soil residues.

UW and NRC Machine Learning Algorithm

Grosse Isle (2023-2025)

Image collections of pea plants and their root systems are being developed to apply machine learning to prairie crops.

UW and UM Weed Identification Algorithm

Grosse Isle (2019-2024)

We are developing a public database of plant and weed images to train machine learning models for Prairie-centric crop management.

Verge Ag Launch Pad

EMILI will test and validate a supervised autonomy solution by Verge Ag to optimize field operations.