Fueling Canada’s Future: The Role of Innovation and Investment in Agri-Tech and Energy

Meaghan Seagrave of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) shares her insights on the critical connection between agriculture, energy, and investment, and how a unified approach can fuel Canada’s sustainable future.

By Tabitha Caswell

Canada’s agriculture sector is at a crossroads, facing mounting pressures to meet sustainability goals and growing demand for food production while simultaneously aiming to strengthen its domestic and international economic competitiveness. It is closely entangled with the energy sector, especially when it comes to sustainable practices, resource management, and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Meaghan Seagrave, Executive Director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) and self-proclaimed “bioeconomy crusader masking as a business operations specialist,” shares her perspective on the intersection of agriculture, energy, and economy. With extensive experience in fostering innovation and sustainability across various industries, she brings us to a higher elevation for a cross-sectoral, panoramic view.

Like agriculture, in the race to reach net zero, many of Canada’s sectors with significant environmental influence are often siloed. Yet, many industries that depend on these sectors converge and even overlap one another, so it’s important to consider these relationships when addressing inputs and outputs of concern.

Meaghan says, “At BIC, we’re focused on green chemistry which spans agriculture, marine, forestry, fisheries, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, defence and more. It might sound like we’re spreading the peanut butter pretty thin, but what we’re really doing is looking at the larger green chemistry value chain – the places where lower carbon inputs from our resource sectors can displace fossil inputs along those industry value chains. This includes fuels, primary chemicals, polymers, semifinished goods, processed goods, advanced manufacturing, and more.”

The Role of Innovation in Sustainable Agri-Tech

When we zoom in on the Canadian ag sector, there is no doubt that innovation is essential for building a more sustainable and future-proof system. As the sector faces increasing pressures from climate change, things like precision farming, renewable energy integration, and sustainable materials offer viable solutions to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of food production.

Regarding low carbon energy, Meaghan explains, “As climate changes, Canada is seeing more and more controlled environment agriculture being employed to support longer growing seasons less impacted by the realities of climate change, so looking at things like utilizing waste streams for energy production, carbon capture and utilization to decrease input costs, and creating more sustainability and circularity within those types of agricultural environments – these kinds of innovations will be key to building a resilient and sustainable agricultural system of the future.”

Clean, green agri-technologies offer the potential to increase productivity, competitiveness and enhance the circular bioeconomy while reducing environmental impacts. However, realizing the ag sector’s full potential requires more than cutting-edge research and innovation; it demands strategic investment and active collaboration. Significant opportunities lie in the collective effort of businesses across sectors, early-stage investors, and policymakers working together to build a healthy, resilient ag system for the future.

Strategic Investment to Scale Agri-Tech Solutions

Investment is one of the driving forces behind scaling sustainable agri-tech solutions. To transform agricultural practices and ensure the adoption of clean technologies, funding is essential. Strategic investments to support the capital required for renewable energy systems, automation technologies, precision farming tools and primary feedstock transformation technologies will accelerate the development of these technologies and bring them to market faster. Without the necessary capital, the maturity of these promising innovations remains low, preventing the sector from reaching its full potential.

As Meaghan notes, “At BIC, we work to support early-stage technologies by providing business acceleration and technical validation. Investment at this stage is crucial to help companies overcome the barriers to scaling and moving toward commercial success.”

BIC builds clusters around the identification, validation, and commercialization of technologies, deploying teams of technical experts to help businesses pilot and move beyond bench-scale toward investability. They do this to strategically bridge a gap that is underserved for technologies that cross sectors and do not fit into industry-specific siloes.

Overcoming Funding Gaps for Early-Stage Technologies

According to Meaghan, one of the biggest hurdles facing the agri-tech sector is securing funding for early-stage technologies. Many promising innovations are developed in research institutions or academic settings, but there’s a significant gap between concept and commercialization. The high capital costs associated with pilot and demonstration projects and the lack of pre-seed investment mechanisms make it difficult for Canadian technologies to reach a point of validation and attract investors.

“There are no mechanisms apart from government grants that invest in technologies at this very early stage. Most of the capital in Canada is focused on balance sheets and rate of return, which makes it difficult for novel, high-risk agri-tech solutions to get the support they need to de-risk typical venture capital players,” Meaghan says.

The Role of Public-Private Partnerships and Policy Support

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of sustainable agri-tech solutions. These collaborations bring together the resources, expertise, and flexibility of the private sector with the funding and regulatory support of the public sector. By working together, these stakeholders can drive innovation, reduce the risks associated with emerging technologies, and ensure a faster, more efficient transition to a sustainable agricultural system.

As Meaghan notes, “The path to market with technologies based in our resource sectors is long and requires significant CAPEX, this hinders progress to commercialization. There is a real opportunity to create a cross-sectoral vision where public-private partnerships can focus on integrating innovation across industries, traditional and otherwise. There’s enormous potential in working across agri-tech, forestry, and other sectors to decarbonize and improve the sustainability of other sectors like manufacturing, but these efforts require the ability to see the opportunity that lies in a greener chemistry value chain. A wholistic approach that sees the opportunity of leveraging our ag and forestry sectors to decarbonize Canada’s manufacturing industries is what is required to truly realize Canada’s potential in the global low-carbon economy.”

Government policies are also critical to fostering an environment conducive to these partnerships. Clear, supportive policies can lower barriers to entry for innovative companies, making it easier to access funding and navigate regulatory hurdles, creating business certainty.

However, for these partnerships to thrive, there is a need for alignment between policy goals and industry needs, with a focus on long-term sustainability and the development of cutting-edge technologies that drive industry transformation. Meaghan says, “It is this alignment that will support the increased productivity and competitiveness of companies and industries in Canada.”

Looking Forward and Leaning In

The future of Canadian agriculture relies on embracing innovation, strategic investment, and strong public-private collaborations. By supporting the growth of clean, green technologies, we can build a sustainable, resilient food system capable of meeting the demands of a growing global population while mitigating environmental impacts. This is especially true when energy innovations are integrated into the equation. However, realizing this vision requires the collective effort of investors, policymakers, and industry leaders.

Equal parts realist and optimist, Meaghan says, “Canada holds some of the most exciting future opportunities in the world when it comes to lowering the carbon intensity of global value chains. We are positioned to be a global leader in supplying green energy, sustainable food, feed, and low carbon inputs to help others decarbonize, but we’ve been slow to promote and harness the true value of our assets. If we can unify efforts across sectors and provinces, we could become a powerhouse driving both decarbonization and economic growth and prosperity. The opportunity is right in front of us – it’s about shifting our strategy to see the bigger picture and leveraging our resources to fuel a sustainable future, globally.”

The opportunity to lead in sustainable agriculture is here – let’s act now to shape the future of Canadian farming.

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