This year marks the tenth anniversary of EMILI (Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative), the culmination of a group of community leaders working towards a common goal: to grow Canada’s economy, with a specific focus on advancing agtech in the Prairies.
Jacqueline Keena, Managing Director, explained that EMILI “is an industry-led non-profit committed to driving agriculture innovation, partnership, and engagement. We provide innovators access to leading-edge equipment, technology, and production practices to increase productivity, sustainability, and profitability across the agriculture and agri-food sector.”
At the heart of it all are the partnerships that EMILI cultivates between producers, industry leaders, investors and innovators. These stakeholders work together “to grow a sustainable, economically resilient digital agriculture industry.”
This work is done in a number of ways.
“We know that Canadian agriculture can lead the world through transformative innovation. This vision fuels our work. EMILI supports projects and people working to develop and increase the adoption of innovative technologies, with projects and partnerships that span the country,” Keena said.
One example of this is the annual Agriculture Enlightened conference, which brings together key stakeholders, including agri-food and technology experts, industry leaders, producers, decision-makers, researchers and students from across the prairies.
“Since 2020, we have brought together approximately 1,450 attendees to hear from over 144 agri-food and agtech experts in more than 47 sessions including keynotes, panel discussions, and fireside chats,” said Keena.
Information about the conference and videos of past sessions are available on EMILI’s website. The next Agriculture Enlightened is scheduled for November 5.
Another example is EMILI’s Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert. The first one, located on Rutherford Farms, a 5,500-acre seed farm in Grosse Isle, Manitoba, was launched in 2022.
It’s been such a successful model that the second site – on J.P. Wiebe Ltd. in MacGregor, Manitoba, which is 10,000 acres, with approximately 3,000 dedicated to potatoes – was opened in July 2025.
“This space provides innovators across industry and academia with access to leading-edge equipment, technology, and production practices to increase productivity, sustainability, and profitability across the agriculture and agri-food sector,” Keena said. “We collaborate with a number of agtech innovators on these sites to test, validate, and demonstrate technology.”
The current list of collaborators is available on the EMILI website at https://emilicanada.com/innovation-farms/activities/
“As an industry-led non-profit we are in a unique position to provide innovators with access to leading-edge equipment, technology, and production practices along with unbiased feedback on how their innovation works on a full-scale farm,” Keena said.
Keena explained that EMILI’s work is guided by three strategic objectives: innovation, partnership and engagement.
Click here to see more...