Today, while visiting Hydragreens Produce Ltd. in Calgary, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced funding of up to $894,673 for SmartGRO Bioengineering Inc. (SmartGRO) under the Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program – Research and Innovation Stream.
Building on the recently announced $3.2-billion National Food Security Strategy and its $750 million dedicated to controlled environment agriculture, this investment will help the Calgary-based start-up to develop and test new clean lighting technology to make year-round indoor agriculture more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
SmartGRO is developing a unique system that uses ultra-fast pulsing LED lights, combined with plant sensors and artificial intelligence (AI). The sensors collect information about the plants such as temperature, health, and growth, and the AI then changes the lighting to give the plants exactly what they need to thrive. Unlike regular LED lights that stay on continuously, SmartGRO's lights turn on and off very quickly, which can help plants use light more effectively for photosynthesis. Controlled tests showed that plants grown under SmartGRO lights produced the same harvest weight as plants grown under regular LED lights, while using up to 80% less electricity.
SmartGRO's technology will help strengthen Canadian agriculture by enabling farmers to grow more while using less electricity, helping to lower costs, reduce environmental impacts and support more efficient year-round food production in Canada.
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