New national network will test and validate agricultural technologies under farm conditions, aiming to give producers stronger evidence before adopting new tools.
A new Canadian agriculture innovation network has been launched with the stated goal of helping farmers adopt technology with greater confidence and clearer evidence of on-farm value.
The Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network, known as AIVA, officially launched on May 12, 2026. The network is designed to partner with farmers and innovators to test and validate agricultural technologies using standardised testing frameworks that can be applied across Canada.
According to the announcement, AIVA will test technologies under real-world farm conditions to determine whether they deliver measurable value for farmers. This may include outcomes such as reducing input costs, improving productivity, and helping producers make better-informed purchasing decisions.
Farmer-centred validation model
AIVA’s model is built around farmer participation. The network says it will rigorously assess both early-stage and market-ready technologies on Canadian farms, with the aim of ensuring that new agtech products address practical, real-world challenges faced by producers.
Technologies that show strong, tangible results through the validation process may be recognised as AIVA Technology Partners.
The launch comes at a time when agricultural productivity and technology adoption are being closely watched across the sector. In 2025, Farm Credit Canada reported that using innovation to increase agricultural productivity could boost farmer incomes by $30 billion over the next decade. At the same time, the announcement notes that innovators often have limited access to real-world testing environments where products can be refined through farmer feedback.
AIVA says it is intended to help close that gap by linking farmers, technology companies, and industry partners through a structured validation and adoption network.
Nine national projects planned for 2026
For the 2026 growing season, AIVA’s Validation Hubs are expected to conduct nine national, multi-site collaboration projects with agtech companies including Geco Weed Management, Corteva, Picketa, Miraterra, and FarmerTitan.
The projects will trial early-stage tools such as spray drones, remote sensors, and farm management software.
AIVA has also identified 25 Farmer Alliance Members, representing more than 297,000 acres of farmland across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to pilot market-ready technologies under real-world conditions.
In future years, AIVA plans to expand the model to include Farm Alliance Members from additional regions, with the stated intention of building representation across Canada.
National coalition to support adoption
The network has also established a national industry coalition made up of leaders in agtech innovation and validation. According to AIVA, the coalition will bring together voices from across the sector to improve collaboration and help accelerate the adoption of new technologies in Canadian agriculture.
AIVA was founded by Farm Credit Canada, EMILI, and WHIN. Its stated mission is to empower Canadian farmers to adopt technology with confidence and to ensure that every investment improves on-farm efficiency and profitability.
Rebecca Franklin, AIVA Network Lead, said Canadian farmers need reliable evidence before making technology decisions.
“Canadian farmers deserve access to the best technology available, and that’s why farmers are at the heart of AIVA’s testing and validation processes,” Franklin said. “Our work brings stakeholders together to advance technology that solves real challenges for Canadian farmers, and provides them with real-world, third-party validated data to make their purchasing decisions.”
Industry leaders point to value of farm-based testing
Greg Stewart, CEO and Founder of Geco Weed Management, said AIVA’s multi-site approach could provide significant value for innovators.
“AIVA’s trials will provide results from across multiple farms and fields in different geographies across Canada,” Stewart said. “It’s unprecedented how valuable that information is going to be for innovators.”
Graeme Millen, Vice President, Strategic Finance and Business Development at FCC, said AIVA is intended to connect farmers and innovators in a way that supports practical value creation.
“AIVA is built for farmers – giving them confidence to adopt agtech that has been tested and proven on Canadian farms,” Millen said. “At FCC, we know access to capital matters, but it is only valuable when it supports solutions that deliver results on the ground.”
Jacqueline Keena, CEO of EMILI, said AIVA’s success will be measured by how effectively it helps agtech scale.
“We want to ensure that farmers can adopt new technology with confidence, knowing that the product has been through rigorous, real-world testing,” Keena said.
Johnny Park, CEO of WHIN, said the network is designed to ensure that appropriate technologies reach producers through vetting, trusted farmer networks, and hands-on adoption support.
“When the right technologies take root, adoption accelerates and that’s how the whole industry moves forward,” Park said.
Reducing risk for farmers
The farmer perspective was also highlighted in the launch announcement.
Scott Day, a farmer from Deloraine, Manitoba, said producers are being presented with a growing number of new technologies and need help assessing which tools are worth considering.
“New technologies are bombarding farmers from all angles these days and it is hard to know how to manage all these opportunities,” Day said. “AIVA provides farmers direction, reduces the risk of trying these new innovations on their own operations and facilitates a network of like-minded farmers to share their experiences.”
AIVA says more information about the network, membership, and upcoming events is available at www.aivanetwork.ca
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