Farmers

Six months after its formation, the AIVA Network is earning praise from stakeholders. 

For Mark Keating, co-owner of Keating Seed Farms Inc. and Keating Seed Corp. near Russell, keeping an eye on technological developments and testing different tools is important due to the nature of commodity production. 

“Farming has always been risky, but in the relatively recent past, to me, it’s shifted more from labour risk and sweat equity risk to flat-out financial risk,” said Keating, who recently completed his 35th harvest. “There’s huge dollars required to grow a crop now, and we need every tool possible to basically maximize our returns or minimize our risk.”

He added AIVA’s work is important because it’s difficult for farmers to perform full-scale trials.

“It takes some expertise that a lot of us just don’t have, never mind the time,” Keating said. “Thanks to AIVA… and others for doing that.”

Read the full article by Aaron Eep in the Winnipeg Free Press.