Efforts are being made to validate new agricultural technologies throughout Canada, but comparing these results becomes challenging when research sites use different methodologies. To address this, the AIVA Network created standardized testing frameworks to validate agtech across diverse environments.

By maintaining consistent testing protocols, AIVA enables innovators to collect broader datasets and greater insights from a range of geographic regions. Capturing this level of cross-regional data would be a significant undertaking for a startup to take on themselves. 

“For a small agtech company, generating rigorous, independent field validation across multiple farms and growing seasons would otherwise be prohibitively expensive,” says Greg Stewart, CEO and Founder of Geco Strategic Weed Management.

“AIVA’s trials will provide results from multiple farms across Canada. It’s unprecedented how valuable that information is going to be for innovators.” 

Geco is a Canadian agtech company vetting their product with AIVA’s Validation Hubs in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. Their technology uses satellite imagery, AI, and several years of field history to pinpoint where weed problems are developing for predictive, targeted management. The value of trialling their product with AIVA lies in the ability to collect data from multiple geographies. 

Different farming regions come with their own characteristics and challenges, including crop management styles, field sizes, and weed species. With AIVA, Geco gains access to multi-regional data to help validate their product while continually developing it into the best solution for farmers. 

“The AIVA trials are helping us quantify the agronomic and economic value of targeted weed management,” says Stewart, “including targeted herbicide applications and variable-rate seeding.”

Before partnering with AIVA, Geco first tested their product with EMILI in 2023. Since then, the technology has expanded from being tested on a handful of farms in Western Canada to being used on over 160 farms in seven countries. 

“EMILI and AIVA have given us a way to build that evidence while continually improving the technology, based on what happens in real farm fields,” says Stewart. 

For the 2026 season, AIVA is running nine validation trials with seven Agtech Innovators. Learn about our projects here.

Are you an innovator interested in trialling your technology with AIVA? Join the Network to get started.