Agrifood companies see collaboration as essential to advancing sector

Collaboration is at the heart of any thriving sector. When expertise is combined, innovation is accelerated—leading to more benefits for a wider portion of society.

For Canada’s agrifood sector, this collaboration has come, in recent years, through projects aimed at the development of improved crop varieties, more sustainable processing technology, more functional ingredients, and healthier foods and beverages. The combined result has meant a growing economy, a wider selection of products on grocery store shelves, new jobs and an overall stronger Canada.

“As a global community, we are facing big challenges when it comes to feeding and fueling a growing world while increasing sustainable production. Collaboration is one way we can help solve those challenges,” Corteva Agriscience Canada Commercial Leader Loralee Orr said. “Collaboration also allows us to secure our company’s future. The world needs sustainable solutions to food security, climate change and to feed the energy transition. We want to lead the way today and tomorrow. Collaboration is a path to get us there.”

Over the past several years, Corteva hasn’t hesitated to utilize collaboration as a tool to advance its work. Not only has it taken part in three Protein Industries Canada projects, it also takes on industry partnerships outside of the cluster.

In early 2024, for example, it announced a partnership with John Deere, focused on combining John Deere’s digital and onboard capabilities with Corteva’s agronomic expertise to help farmers implement data-driven recommendations. The partnership is another step toward improving productivity in the North American agrifood sector.

“When we collaborate, we come up with solutions that can revolutionize operations for our customers. That is good for us, and it is good for the farmer,” Orr said.

This rings true for other areas of the ecosystem, as well. Fei Luo, Co-Founder and CEO of Liven Proteins, considers partnering with other companies to be critical to the development of Liven’s animal-free collagen. Thanks to the addition of this external expertise, her company has been able to test samples, utilize new equipment, validate their work and scale their development.

And while Luo is hoping to grow her team in the future, collaboration has, for now, meant she can utilize expertise without costs her company can’t currently take on.

“A lot of innovation is needed, and all of these collaborations with research institutes and CMOs is really helping us achieve it without us needing to hire a lot of experts, as well” Luo said.

She recognizes, however, that this collaborative approach can come with its challenges. Standard to most partnerships, she’s found they most often include each company needing to balance their own priorities as well as companies potentially being located in varied geographic locations.

“I think those are challenges that are quite standard in collaboration. But I think to overcome them, it definitely requires a lot of communication and travelling to be in person,” Luo said. “But there’s definitely more benefits than challenges.”

Orr had similar advice for companies, particularly stressing the importance of communication and listening to feedback.

“Be open, be curious and listen to your customers. Any partnership you enter needs to deliver value to the customers you serve – in our case, farmers,” she said. “Commercializing innovations in agriculture and agrifood is a long game. It can take 10-15 years to get a new biotech trait for seed to the market, for example. Evaluate the long-term market fundamentals, customer needs and consumer trends, and then resist the urge to react to the inevitable bumps in the road or market.”

With these challenges overcome and its potential to help bring products to market faster, collaboration is an important tool in any company’s arsenal. This importance will only grow as the Canadian agrifood sector grows, becoming essential as the sector works to reach its full potential.