Provision Analytics: using data to differentiate Canada
- Posted:
Provision Analytics is a company on the move within the plant-based protein space—and its partnership with Protein Industries Canada has accelerated its entry into the marketplace. With the support of a dedicated consortium, Provision Analytics is working to improve on-farm logistics and food traceability for consumers through the development of an integrated data platform—all of which will help bring Canada one step closer to becoming a global leader in plant-based protein production.
“At Provision, we are using data to highlight the qualities and practices in crop production employed here in Canada in order to find a premium on the global market,” said CEO Erik Westblom. “Canadian farmers produce commercial cereal, oilseed and pulse crops with a high level of sustainability and product characteristics; tracking, measuring and exposing these details as part of farming and processing will be critical to maintaining that level of differentiation against global competition, and to end-product use and consistency.”
Provision Analytics has teamed up with Verge Technologies, Skymatics and Coutts Agro to improve traceability and underscore the advantages of Canadian plant-based products. As the end goal is to help farmers lower their input costs by making practices as efficient as possible, encouraging widespread acceptance of capturing data at the farm level will be paramount to the company’s future.
“Key to our success will be the adoption of technology, advancements in data acquisition and partnership development,” Westblom said. “This type of innovation requires early adoption and trust in the use of farmer data. These are inherent challenges that have resulted in agriculture/food being one of the most antiquated sectors on earth. For us to work with Protein Industries Canada and like-minded companies on promoting the benefits of this technology is of prime importance.”
Support from PIC and other organizations has led Provision Analytics to secure meetings with some of the world’s largest food companies.
“From a business standpoint, our strategy is very much a 'partner-first' mentality. The food ecosystem is too vast and fragmented for any solution provider to succeed in conquering it all. We genuinely believe that to be successful, we will need to partner to rapidly grow our innovation and data collection,” added Westblom.
Provision Analytics and its partners will be working on the project over the next three years. Together, this effort should help further differentiate Canada as a safe, secure and stable source of high-quality plant-based foods.
