Anjolaoluwa Bamgbala entered a career in the world of agriculture when she joined EMILI as a Policy Research Associate. Her first major experience in agtech came after a background of research and data analysis. Agriculture and technology are now a part of her daily life, as she applies her economics experience and passion for policy to agtech innovation, creating a real world impact. Read about her journey into agriculture below.
Describe your job or product in one sentence.
As a policy research associate, I help translate complex policy and digital agriculture topics into clear research, briefing notes, and recommendations that support innovation and adoption in the sector.
Where did you grow up? Was it an agriculture or urban environment?
I actually grew up in a very urban setting, so agriculture wasn’t really a part of my daily life back then.That being said, it wasn’t completely foreign to me either! I had relatives with farms, including an uncle with a large-scale operation and grandparents who farmed as well. Those were my very first connections to the world of agriculture, even if my own neighborhood was more about city life.
What was your dream job when you were a kid?
My dream job changed many times when I was growing up. In high school, I was very interested in becoming an architect. I liked the idea of designing spaces and thinking about how people interact with the built environment.
What was your first job in the agriculture or agri-food sector?
Actually, my current role at EMILI is my very first direct step into the world of agriculture and agri-food! Before this, I was working as a research data analyst in the genomics sector. It was a great place to sharpen my skills in research, data, and innovation, and I’m really enjoying applying everything I learned there to the digital agriculture space now.
What brought you to your current role?
After graduating, I was interested in exploring different ways to apply my economics background and interest in policy analysis. EMILI stood out because the role connected research, public policy, innovation, and real-world economic impact. I was also interested in learning more about Manitoba’s agriculture sector and how digital technologies could support productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness in Canada.
How does digital agriculture or agtech play a role in your current job?
Digital agriculture is central to my work because many of the policy questions I research are connected to how technology is developed, tested, adopted, and scaled in agriculture. At EMILI, I get to learn about tools that can help producers make better decisions, improve efficiency, and respond to challenges across the sector.
Because I did not come from a traditional agriculture background, this role has also been a major learning experience for me. EMILI’s work, including Innovation Farms and digital skills initiatives, has helped me see how much innovation is already happening in agriculture and how important it is to make those innovations practical and accessible. In my role, I am able to support projects that advance innovative technologies and increase skills and training opportunities in the sector.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in digital agriculture?
Be open-minded and stay curious. Digital agriculture brings together so many areas, including policy, data, technology, business, science, and farming. You do not have to know everything before entering the sector.
I have learned that even people who have worked in agriculture for years are still learning because the sector is always changing. When I first started, the EMILI team was very supportive and shared resources, context, and hands-on learning opportunities to help me understand the sector better. That made a big difference. My advice would be to ask questions, keep learning, and be willing to see agriculture in a new way.
What first piqued your interest in agriculture and agri-food?
My interest grew as I started learning more about Manitoba’s agriculture sector and how important it is to the province and Canada’s economy. Agriculture is such a major part of Manitoba’s identity, but I became especially interested in how the sector connects to bigger questions around productivity, innovation, trade, labour, and economic growth.
Working in this space helped me see agriculture not only as food production, but also as a policy and economic development issue.
What’s something that surprised you when you started working in digital agriculture?
What surprised me most was how advanced and innovative agriculture already is. Before working in this space, I think my understanding of agriculture was similar to many people’s: farms, tractors, and people working in the field.
Digital agriculture showed me that the sector is much broader than that. There are tools using data, sensors, automation, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to improve decision-making and efficiency. It made me realize that agriculture is not behind other sectors. In many ways, it is actively shaping what innovation looks like in the real world.
What do you think would help digital agriculture develop and advance more quickly?
I think digital agriculture would advance more quickly with strong communication, practical learning opportunities, and clear evidence of results. People need to understand what these tools do, how they work, and how they can create value in real farm settings.
That is why initiatives focused on skills, training, demonstration, and validation are so important. EMILI’s Innovation Farms, for example, provides space to test and validate technologies on a full-scale farm, while its data literacy work helps people ask better questions when considering digital agriculture investments.
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.