The Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network with Dr. Joy Agnew

Dr. Joy Agnew grew up on a grain farm near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and earned her doctorate in Ag/Bio Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. She joined Olds College of Agriculture and Technology in 2019 where she oversees the applied research portfolio and smart farm operations. Applied research at Olds College is focused on crop and livestock production with a specialty in technology integration and data utilization to improve productivity and sustainability of food production.  Joy also has a leadership role in the development of the College's Smart Ag Ecosystem, bringing together the academic programming, applied research, strategic partnerships, smart farm operations, and extension & communication activities to help the College meet its goal to be a leader in Smart Agriculture. In 2021, Joy was named one of Canada’s top 50 most influential people in Canadian Ag by Canadian Western Agribition and has a passion for telling the story of Canadian agriculture. 

Joy’s professional passions and strengths are at the intersection of agriculture, innovation, research, and teaching, allowing her to build and nurture high performing teams and programs to accelerate the development and adoption of technologies and best practices to benefit the agricultural sector in Canada and beyond. 

In an article on the Canadian Agr-Food Automation and Intelligence Network website, Joy is quoted as saying, “What I love about what I’m doing now, is that I get the best of both worlds. Not only do we have about 60 projects wrapped up in the smart farm envelope, but I also work hands-on with fantastic researchers, teachers, and students. I’m engaged in research while supporting the teaching and training of the next generation. This is my dream job.”

In this episode, Dr. Agnew shares her role at Olds College and the history of the Olds College Smart Farm.  

She discusses one of the applied research studies monitoring nitrous oxide emissions and how the Smart Farm research team is working to predict the impact that changes in farming practices has on the carbon footprint of crop production, as well as other current studies at Olds College.  More on these can be found in the June 2023 Smart Farm Newsletter, which is linked below.

Joy discusses the development and current phase of the Pan Canadian Smart Farm Network, including the primary purpose of the network and where she would like to see it develop in the coming years.  She also shares where network Smart Farms are located and how they are working collaboratively and individually in the context of this development phase.  MBFI is excited to be one of the Smart Farms included in this Canadian network.

We wrap up with discussion on some of the challenges in agriculture that are being addressed through this work and how Dr. Agnew is hoping this information will benefit farmers.

References and Links:

Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network Website:

https://www.oldscollege.ca/smart-farm-research/pan-canadian-smart-farm-network.html

Olds College Smart Farm Website:

https://www.oldscollege.ca/smart-farm-research/index.html

June 2023 Smart Farm Newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/oldscollege.ca/smart-farm-newsletter-june-2023

September 2023 Smart Farm Newsletter:

https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=d4284de5cf8534c07ae591437&id=e9d23583ca

Contact Information for Olds College Centre for Innovation:

1-403-507-7970

occi@oldscollege.ca

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

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