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New CEO of CAAIN Looking to Add More Innovation to the Ag Sector The new Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has been around the food industry for her entire career. Kerry Wright took over the top job at the organization on April 12 of this year with a resume ripe with experience. By Lee Griffi
What is CAAIN Anyways?
1. Robotics and Automation
“My father is a chef, so food was always around us and an important part of my early years. I grew up in a small town that was very rural and had a lot of agriculture. Many of my friends and family worked in the sector so it has always been of interest to me,” said Kerry Wright. Her father steered her towards a career in dietetics and she eventually graduated from the University of Guelph. “The program was a combination of food science and commerce, so I graduated with a degree in commerce, had all of the food science courses, and I did a dietetic internship for about 6 months,” added Wright.
CAAIN is an organization mandated to increasing the productivity and efficiency of Canadian agrifood companies by applying new technological solutions. It came together quickly in March of 2019 when eight founding partners submitted a proposal to the federal government. The partners are made up of technology and agri-food companies, postsecondary institutions, and research institutions. Industry, Science and Economic Development Canada approved the application four months later and CAAIN was born.
The ag sector is facing major labour shortages, and that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. “We want to drive automation towards reducing the need for unskilled labour. Allow the machines to operate and maintain skilled workers. That part is the driving force around acceptance into the competition. We want to make sure we can provide more producer certainty around what they are doing in their milking or their harvesting, and the projects we are looking to fund will really bridge that aspect,” said Wright.
Her career path eventually led her to an opportunity to work with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association where Wright had the opportunity to work on new beef product. “I had a national portfolio, so I worked with companies across Canada to develop new products of beef. That really entered me into the realm of understanding supply and where our food comes from and how that relates into the food processing sector.” She then worked with one of the largest agri-food consulting businesses in Canada that supported companies to build plants and help with strategic business development. “I also put a lot of effort into process improvement, continuous improvement, and innovation,” she added.
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Implement Success | Summer 2021
“We really want to make sure we are getting out there with the funding that we have. Our focus is bridging the gap dividing the agriculture and technology sectors,” said Wright, who is excited to be at the helm. “What it was really all about was that innovation space for me. AMC members certainly know and appreciate the ability to add innovation and automation in this sector is really needed. The people at CAAIN are doers. They move things along very quickly and I really like the ability to be a part of that.”
The Three Pillars There are three main areas the organization is focusing on. “We really want to help to drive and support these areas and get it out to the people that need it and understand what research can do to move the ag sector forward. CAAIN currently has closed and open competitions underway focusing on the three pillars:
2. Data-Driven Decision-Making Data really is the key driver to enable a smart decision-making culture. “To be able to do that it really depends on good, wellanalyzed data. This data leads to informed decisions, which then leads to a greater return on investment. Some of the people we are supporting in our competitions are looking at that data, understanding it, and understanding how it can be layered with other information and bring some really good solutions to farming,” said Wright.
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