Technology which had been used to discover water on Mars, is now being applied to make agronomic maps faster, cheaper and better.

Jacob van den Borne is one of the farmers who was nominated as one of the 10 most innovative arable farmers worldwide. He and his brother started with precision farming in 2006 and they have an eye for the best technology available.

Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMVSV), the venture arm of Yamaha Motor Co, led the $7.5 million Series A funding round for Advanced Farm Technologies (AFT), which develops robotic farming equipment like the T-6 robotic strawberry harvester, which uses multiple robotic arms with custom end effectors (i.e. grippers) to harvest strawberries grown in soil. Other investors in the round include Kubota Corporation, Catapult Ventures, and Impact Venture Capital.

Beanless coffee is a thing now and could hit the market as early as next year, following a trend.

As Canadian farmers leave traditional tasks to smart machines, and focus on strategy and systems, they’ll be better positioned than ever to feed a fast-growing global population. But to do that, they’ll need a wide range of new skills, as well as enhanced old skills, that Canada isn’t developing anywhere near fast enough.

Biotechnology can be used to develop stress-tolerant and more nutritious crop varieties to protect natural resources and human health.