Tech Update: Innovative solutions to combat climate-driven food woes

From droughts to torrential rainfall to heat waves to floods, climate change is making extreme weather the new normal. For Canadian farmers, this has resulted in shorter and more volatile growing seasons, which means smaller harvests — and higher prices at the grocery store. In Saskatchewan, drought conditions decreased crop yields last summer by 11 per cent — and that drop followed a staggering 47 per cent reduction two years prior due to extreme heat and inadequate rainfall.
According to a new study, extreme weather and other effects of climate change will increase the cost of food globally by as much as 3.23 per cent year-over-year. This is especially troubling for Canada, the world’s sixth largest importer of agri-food and seafood products. To get a clear sense of the real-world ramifications of this issue, one need only look at the current state of the global market for olive oil, where a drought in Italy has wholesale buyers (and consumers) reeling. In the GTA, for example, a litre of extra virgin olive oil that would have been priced at $5 to $7 last summer cost wholesalers more than $20 this June.
As climate change intensifies, new strategies are necessary to safeguard domestic food prices regardless of supply-chain conditions. Oshawa-based Moduleaf is currently developing several solutions for farmers, including autonomous, modular robots and low-impact controlled environments. The company’s Brilliant Farm greenhouse facility, a collaboration with Ontario Tech University and Turnkey Aquaponics, uses energy-efficient lighting and ventilation, geothermal energy circulation and biodigester technology (in which microbes generate energy from organic waste). CEO Nicholas Varas says the Brilliant Farm, which focuses on berry production, illustrates how Moduleaf’s approach can “reduce reliance on imports and stabilize costs for Canadian consumers.”
In the future, Varas says, Moduleaf wants to build localized food production hubs to “make sustainable and cost-effective agriculture a reality for every community in Canada.” Along with making the country’s food supply more resilient in the face of climate challenges, technology such as Moduleaf’s can help achieve net-zero goals by making it possible to access fresh food year-round without the hefty carbon footprint of importing produce.
The Paralympic Games gear up in Paris on Wednesday, and as was the case with last month’s Olympic Games, sustainability is top of mind. In this case, that ethos comes with an added focus on improving accessible technology. Montreal-based AWL-Electricity, which creates wireless charging solutions, has stepped — or more accurately, wheeled up to the plate. The company is partnering with European mobility technology company WHILL to showcase the next generation of mobility tech. Visitors to the Toyota Mobility Park and Athletes’ Village in Paris can see a demonstration of WHILL’S innovative fully autonomous power wheelchair alongside AWL-E’s wireless tech.
Because mobility devices require so many customizations to suit the needs of individual users, it’s tremendously difficult to create universal chargers. As well, some options technologies require that a device is positioned on the charger in very specific ways — a challenge for wheelchair users. Instead, AWL-Electricity’s tech creates a wireless charging “sphere of influence,” says Emmanuel Glen, the company’s CEO. This means nearby devices can start charging without needing to be precisely situated on a dock. And because there are no ports or wires involved, AWL-E’s tech can be used with a wider range of wheelchair brands and configurations.
Toronto-based Honeybee Trials, a company that collaborates with health institutions to provide tools for clinical trial recruitment, has been acquired by California company Leapcure. This move is intended to further Leapcure’s aim of improving empathy and accessibility in clinical trials, which will drive medical discoveries.
Although this quarter has seen improvements in VC investment, Canadian seed funding has dipped to 2020 levels, after a few years of growth. Experts worry that this decline could hamper the long-term pipeline for investment-ready companies.
$800 million (U.S.): The amount in venture capital firm Radical Ventures’ new fund, which will focus exclusively on growth-stage AI startups.
$21.4 million: How much NGen, part of the federal government’s global innovation cluster for advanced manufacturing, plans to invest in 15 projects across the country.
2.98 billion metric tonnes: The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by Canadian wildfires in 2023, according to a new study. Last year’s blazes in Canada accounted for 27 per cent of the world’s tree cover loss — a staggering increase from typical years, when fires are responsible for only about six per cent of forest destruction.
Rebecca Gao writes about technology for MaRS. Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, has partnered with MaRS to highlight innovation in Canadian companies.