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OFA, industry stakeholders connect with municipalities over common interests

This year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual general meeting and conference attracted over 2,500 municipal leaders, government officials, civil servants as well as other interested stakeholders. Among those other stakeholders were a wide range of companies and organizations who are connected to municipalities in some capacity – including the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).

The event is one of the most important public policy conferences in Ontario, and as a farmer and former municipal leader, I was pleased to be part of the OFA delegation and have this opportunity to engage with participants at the event.

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Designing a Robotic Berry Picker

Video: Designing a Robotic Berry Picker


Since blackberries must be harvested by hand, the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To support a growing blackberry industry in Arkansas, food science associate professor Renee Threlfall is collaborating with mechanical engineering assistant professor Anthony Gunderman to develop a mechanical harvesting system. Most recently, the team designed a device to measure the force needed to pick a blackberry without damaging it. The data from this device will help inform the next stage of development and move the team closer to the goal of a fully autonomous robotic berry picker. The device was developed by Gunderman, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student. To determine the force needed to pick blackberries without damage, the engineers worked with Threlfall and Andrea Myers, then a graduate student.