Craig MacEachern is a postdoctoral researcher and McCain Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Agriculture where he leads initiatives in precision and digital agriculture. His research focuses on automation, sensing technologies and sustainable production systems, including the design of a precision herbicide applicator that reduces chemical use through sensor-based spot application.

His keynote talk at the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association’s (CFGA) 16th Annual Conference: Greener Horizons: Technological Innovations in Forage and Grassland Management showed how digital agriculture is changing how producers, researchers and agri-businesses make decisions. The conference took place Nov. 18 to 21 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and was organized in partnership with the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association (NBSCIA).

Craig started his presentation by saying we’re starting the fourth agricultural revolution with digital agriculture. He says it will allow us to produce more food with fewer resources while permitting the industry to overcome challenges across the country including labour, climate and traceability and while meeting sustainability mandates and global competitiveness.

He believes there is no Canadian future in agriculture without the mass adoption of digital technology. He said we simply cannot remain competitive with the rest of the world.

In the Canadian context there are a number of challenges facing farmers and producers including labour availability, climate crisis, traceability, sustainability mandates and global competitiveness. Craig told attendees systemic challenges faced by Canadian producers make it difficult to produce their crops at a competitive price.

In Canada, he said, the cost of production of maize is $839 per acre. In Pakistan, where labour is cheap, where there are few environmental laws or restrictions and where there’s no traceability, the same maize costs $276/acres to produce.

While Pakistan has not embraced digital agriculture, other regions with similar production environments have, including China and South America. And that, he said, should be concerning for Canadian agriculture.

He added that digital agriculture can help Canadian farmers, but first they have to understand what is meant by the term. Digital agriculture stands on four pillars:

·      Precision agriculture

·      Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence

·      Data-driven management systems and

·      Human-computer interfacing

His presentation defined what goes into each of these four pillars and the benefits farmers and producers receive by implementing these concepts.

By example, he said robotics, automation and artificial intelligence is a hot topic and one that generates a lot of fear. He explained people are concerned about job losses; however, the reality is there’s no one who wants to work those jobs.

“These are the technologies we need to embrace to address the labour gap which exists,” Craig said. “We want to automate the monotonous tasks that don’t need a human to sit there. That frees up those employees to do more important tasks.”

He pointed to drones and robotic milkers as two successful examples.

Understanding how to use technology and apply it, making it scalable and accessible are keys to ensuring producers begin implementing these pillars.

Craig also highlighted the challenges in adoption, including systemic challenges, rural connectivity, the “that’s what I’ve always done” approach, trust in the data and intellectual property ownership and, finally, limited capital and digital literacy.

He said farmers can be more efficient and it doesn’t require a million-dollar investment. The Dalhousie Agricultural Mechanized Systems Lab is working to help farmers solve these problems, looking at the scalability of existing technology and achieving cost-effectiveness.

Geolocation technology, even an entry level system, can help producers be more efficient. Paired with autosteer, these technologies improve efficiency and can be applied to every pass of the field from seeding to harvesting.

The next step is to add variable rate to apply uniform fertilizers and additives. This then leads to spot applications, where farms can precisely target weeds or insects or specific nutrient requirements. By using these tools farmers can reduce their costs, be more effective and only apply chemicals on areas that need them.

The future of digital agriculture relies on local data. Craig pointed to the weather station network as an one practical example. He listed soil data and drone surveys for NDVI maps as other ways local data can impact producers.

Overall, he said that if Canada wants to continue to be a leader in the agricultural space and to remain competitive, Canadian producers must change the way they farm and proactively adopt digital agriculture.

2025 conference recordings  
Would you like to hear all this presentation? Online access to recordings of all the conference sessions is available for purchase. For more information, email [email protected].

2026 CFGA annual conference

Registration for the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association’s (CFGA) 17th Annual Conference is now open. This year’s conference takes place Nov. 9 to 12, 2026, at the Best Western Calgary Plaza Hotel in partnership with the Agriculture Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA).

With the theme Canadian Forage Systems: Designing for Durability, this year’s event brings together Canada’s forage and grassland community to explore resilience and long‑term system design. Watch the CFGA website, follow the CFGA on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn or subscribe to the CFGA quarterly newsletter to stay up to date.