Saskatchewan’s startup spirit fuels Canada’s ag-tech push
Kyle Folk, CEO of Ground Truth Ag / GROUND TRUTH AG PHOTO
Saskatchewan’s growing reputation as a hub for agricultural technology is no accident, says Kyle Folk, CEO of Ground Truth Ag, noting the province’s culture makes it a natural breeding ground for innovation.
“You go to Silicon Valley, you go out for a coffee or a tea at a local coffee shop, you’ll see or hear people having conversations about tech startups,” Folk said on the RBC Disruptors: The Canada Project podcast. “That same thing applies to Saskatchewan… You are immersed when you’re in Saskatchewan. You’re completely exposed to agriculture, whether you like it or not.”
Folk believes that the environment is giving the province an edge as global agriculture races to modernize. “We definitely have an advantage when it comes to ag tech,” he said. “Five to 10 years down the line… we will be the powerhouse in technology for agriculture.”
Ground Truth Ag, founded by Folk after he returned to farming and saw firsthand how spoilage and inconsistent grain grading hurt producers, is developing AI-powered tools to automate one of the industry’s most stubborn manual processes. Grain grading, largely unchanged for more than a century, still relies heavily on human assessment. “It’s a manual process,” Folk said. “Grain graders take up to eight years to be fully trained.”
His company aims to change that using machine vision, near-infrared spectroscopy, and deep learning. The system can identify more than 50 visual characteristics in minutes — a task that would take human graders days. That speed, Folk argues, will give farmers greater certainty and control. “If you had our unit at your yard and you could grade it immediately, you’d know what you could sell that for,” he said. “That’s a different mindset.”
Alongside startup-driven advances like these, industry leaders say Canada must accelerate its broader innovation efforts to keep pace globally. Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, warned that the country’s competitive edge depends on embracing new tools and data systems throughout the supply chain.
“We’re doing more with less, which is ultimately the aim of technology and innovation commercialization,” Al-Katib said. He noted that Canada’s agriculture sector grew exports from $45 billion to $85 billion in just three years — a surge he credits to rising productivity and global demand.
But Al-Katib cautioned that long-term success requires modernizing infrastructure as well. “We have to be planning for what the trade infrastructure looks like in 2050 and 2060, not in 2026,” he said, arguing for major investments to strengthen Canada’s supply chain.
Both leaders agree the stakes are high: global food demand is climbing sharply, and Canada faces tough competition from countries like Brazil and Kazakhstan. Yet they also see a generational opening for Canadian producers if the country continues to invest in the right technologies and the people behind them.
As Folk put it, the next era of agriculture will belong to those who can measure and manage quality with unprecedented precision. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” he said. “The quality of grain that’s going to come out of Canada is only going to increase and be better… we still are one of the best in the world, if not the best.”