MOOSOMIN — An ag-tech incubator that has helped 47 Saskatchewan companies reach their entrepreneurial dreams is looking for the next big ideas, recruiting for the fourth edition of Cultivator powered by Conexus’ Agtech Accelerator.
“Everyone has this shared vision and shared goals of improving agriculture—it could be for reasons of sustainability or economic vitality—the actual ‘why’ is different, but there’s a shared desire to help grow this ag-tech space, and just so many people that come together collectively to drive this forward,” explained Director of Cultivator, Laura Mock. “Cultivator just happens to be the group where we’re delivering the program, and being the hub to pull everyone together.”
Launching an agtech company is challenging and complex, and the Agtech Accelerator is intended to help founders by linking farmers, industry leaders, and investors.
“By bringing these groups together, we create a unique ecosystem where ideas are refined, solutions are built to meet real-world needs on the farm, and startups are connected with the expertise and funding they need to grow,” Mock said.
Applications for the current round are being accepted until Jan. 3, with a focus on crop-based ventures in Cohort 4.
“If you’re looking at the past cohorts, I think it started a little bit broader,” Mock said. “You would see companies where some were earlier stage, some were later stage, some had to focus on crops and grains, you’d see sort of a sprinkling of livestock in there. But what we found is that by keeping a fairly close-knit cohort that has some similarities, there is a lot of value because we do a lot of founder-to-founder mentorship.”
Not only do the mentors understand the perspective new companies are coming from, but can add value to those fledgling businesses.
“When we say an ‘ag-tech company,’ what we’re looking at is any company that uses technology in agriculture or horticulture with the aim of improving yield, efficiency and profitability,” Mock said. “Agriculture technology can be products, services or applications used in agriculture that will improve various inputs or outputs to the process. So it’s pretty wide open, and it could be brand new technology used in agriculture, it could be existing technology with new applications in agriculture.”
One example Mock noted was the use of drones in agricultural settings.
“How drones are collecting data and how we’re using that data to inform decision making, whether it be how to spray, targeted weed management practices, things like that,” she said.
The numbers through the past three intakes have been impressive, with the Agtech Accelerator program raising $119.2 million in private capital, generating $72.1 million in revenue, receiving $44.4 million in public funding, and creating 193 new jobs in Saskatchewan.
“The jobs that are created, the way we partner with post-secondary institutions, there’s a financial impact,” Mock said, pointing out that this program is also one way to retain the intelligence and creativity of homegrown talent.
“For the longest time, everyone left Saskatchewan—I left Saskatchewan for about 10 years and came back—but we’re supporting people to keep jobs in our province. I want my kids to stay and work in Saskatchewan. I don’t want them to feel like they have to leave to have the job of their dreams. I want them to know if the job doesn’t exist, they can create it.”
Finale moves north
Since inception, Cultivator’s Agtech Accelerator has held its big finale at the annual Farm Show in Regina. This is where agtech startups get to pitch their idea as the last week of Cohort 4 wraps in July. However, with the Farm Show’s change of date to March starting in 2025, the finale will now be held at Ag in Motion held north of Saskatoon at the Discovery Farm Langham.
“There were multiple factors at play,” Mock said of the venue change for the finale week. “One, definitely was the timeline of the show moving. We plan our cohort and the work that we do around the seasonality of farming because engaging producers and industry in the program is critical, so we need to make sure that the program actually runs in a time when those stakeholders can be involved. We do want a show to anchor it to and Canada’s Farm Show, the timeline definitely wouldn’t have worked for us.”
Another consideration was simply a case of spreading things around a bit to avoid being seen as centred on one particular area.
“The second piece is, I think we are so proud of the fact that our Agtech Accelerator was born in Regina, but we don’t want to be seen as just a Regina-based program, simply because Saskatchewan is agriculture; Canada is agriculture,” Mock said. “So one of the ways that we could provide more access, more exposure was diversifying where we show up. So kick off week will be in Regina, finale week will be in Saskatoon.”
For more information on how to apply for Cohort 4, innovators can check out the cultivator.ca website.
