The 12th annual InnoTech Vegreville Field Day saw about 160 people from the agriculture communities from all Canadian prairie provinces and Minnesota, government and the post-secondary community endure a blustery, rainy day. The inclement weather didn’t stop the enthusiastic crowd from participating in outdoor presentations on topics like seed variety trials, crop sequencing and novel crops, and blackleg resistance stewardship.
Organizer Jan Slaski was aware of the challenge the less than ideal weather might pose but was still impressed with the turnout.
“Field Day brings all these people together so they can network, learn about trends, compare notes on agriculture and have some fun, too. Everyone in the agricultural community knows that on a day like this, you just wear a rain jacket and carry on.”
Alberta Innovates’ CEO Laura Kilcrease was on hand for the morning to meet with stakeholders, farmers and the business community to build connections and foster learning.
“It’s events like this where ideas are seeded, where entrepreneurs and researchers come together and where new business opportunities are discovered,” said Laura.
She also spoke about the recently announced $49.5 million Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) and how this is a significant step forward for Vegreville which has been an important centre of agriculture and innovation in the province for decades.
Eric Cong, with Vegreville-based organization Chromtec, expressed his gratitude for the opportunities that Field Day provides his new and growing business.
“Our intention of the day is actually to meet with different people and different businesses, especially those who are right in our supply chain and hemp value chain, our intention is very well achieved. We consider collaboration to be an important role in doing business, so we’d love to talk with different businesses and stakeholders to promote a virtuous cycle of hemp value chain.”
Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, Vegreville Mayor Tim McPhee and other Town officials were on hand as well to listen and share stories with the attendees.