As a field trial modernization scientist at Corteva Agriscience, Dr. Kevin Falk is dedicated to improving the way field scientists work. The lead on Corteva Agriscience’s spray drone trials taking place at EMILI’s Innovation Farms, Falk holds an M.Sc from the University of Manitoba, a Ph.D in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Agronomy from Iowa State University, and an Advanced RPAS Pilot Certificate from Transport Canada. Here, Falk shares his path to becoming a field scientist, the importance of relationships in building his career, and some keen observations about the digital agriculture industry.
Describe your job or product in one sentence.
I build digital tools and workflows that help agricultural scientists work faster, smarter, and with better data, including AI models, drone systems, and automation platforms.
Where did you grow up? Was it an agriculture or urban environment?
I grew up in Carman, Manitoba, a town of about 3,000 people that punches way above its weight as an agricultural research hub. The University of Manitoba research station, plus legacy research farms from nearly every seed and chemical company were all right there. I didn’t grow up on a farm, but the farm was my happy place – I spent a lot of time with my grandpas and cousins on theirs.
What was your dream job when you were a kid?
Honestly, I loved science as a kid, but I didn’t know scientists existed in my hometown until I started working research jobs in high school. Before that, like many Canadian kids, I wanted to be a hockey player. Once I discovered that people got paid to do plant science and genetics in the same fields I grew up running around in, that dream changed fast.
What was your first job in the agriculture or agri-food sector?
A summer job in the seed industry in high school. Carman had so many research farms that it was easy to find work. Those jobs put me around university interns who explained the genetics and plant breeding science behind what we were doing. I was hooked from day one.
What brought you to your current role?
My path to Corteva was less about job postings and more about relationships. Through the Plant Science Symposium Series – first as a student at University of Manitoba, then organizing the Iowa State series – I met many scientists from Corteva, some of whom became my mentors. When an opportunity opened at Corteva in Manitoba, I was ready. My current modernization-focused role evolved from there as I kept pushing into technology, drone imaging, AI, and automation.
How does digital agriculture or agtech play a role in your current job?
It’s basically the entire job. I develop AI-powered computer vision models for counting plants and scoring diseases, build drone-based imaging and spray application programs, and create software tools that connect field data with research systems. I’m currently working on using large language models and drone analytics to accelerate how field scientists collect and interpret trial data. The goal isn’t just speed, it’s data quantity and quality that humans alone can’t achieve. We used to collect a data point per plot; now we’re collecting a data set per plot. Building the tools to capture that data is only half the job – the other half is building the tools to understand it, analyze it, and turn it into decisions.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in digital agriculture?
Don’t wait until you feel ready. The tools are evolving faster than any curriculum. Get into the field, get dirty, and then figure out where the bottlenecks are – that’s where digital ag can do the most good. Also, learn to communicate. The biggest gap in digital agriculture isn’t technical skill, it’s the ability to translate what a tool does into something a grower or scientist actually cares about.
What first piqued your interest in agriculture and agri-food?
Growing up in Carman, surrounded by research farms and a family connected to farming, agriculture was just the backdrop of my life. What really sparked my curiosity was discovering, through those early high school jobs, that there was serious science happening behind the scenes: genetics, plant breeding, seed technology. The idea that you could combine biology, data, and farming to actually solve problems and feed people? That was it for me.
What’s your favourite part about working in digital agriculture and agri-food?
The pace of change. Every year there are new tools, new capabilities, new ways to look at a problem. I also genuinely love the people. Agriculture has this rare mix of scientists, farmers, engineers, and policy folks who all care deeply about what they’re doing. And being able to show a field scientist something you built that saves them two days of work and watching their reaction – that never gets old.
What do you think would help digital agriculture develop and advance more quickly?
Two things: First, trust. Farmers and field scientists need to see tools working reliably in real conditions before they’ll adopt them, and that takes time and transparency. Second, better communication between the people building the tech and the people using it. A lot of great tools fail, not because the technology is wrong, but because the developers never spent enough time understanding what the end user actually needs. More cross-disciplinary collaboration – agronomists and data scientists working side by side from day one – would close that gap fast.
This profile is part of EMILI’s This is Agriculture series, highlighting talented and diverse individuals across the digital agriculture sector. While individuals working in agriculture come from a variety of backgrounds, they share a common interest in growing and strengthening Canadian agriculture to ensure an environmentally and economically sustainable future for generations to come.