Scaling an agriculture start-up from idea to widespread adoption is a challenging task — requiring founders to understand a region’s market dynamics and regulations — but a partnership between innovation ecosystem Zone Agtech and FCC is making the process a little easier for companies entering Canada or expanding beyond the country.
Earlier this month, Zone Agtech entered into a three-year strategic partnership with FFC to support two programs designed to accelerate agtech innovation — The AgXis Acceleration Program and The Go Global: Quebec Scale-Up Program.
Zone Agtech will host a group of companies each year and provide coaching and networking opportunities to help bring new products and services to local food producers in Quebec through the AgXis Acceleration Program.
The Go Global: Quebec Scale-Up Program takes the reverse strategy of bringing Series A and B agrifood tech companies to the global stage through a 12-week program. The program will include mentorship from global experts, including investors and industry stakeholders, and one week abroad to visit innovation centers and to attend the Thrive Global Impact Summit in Santa Clara, Calif.
Innovation accelerator SVG Ventures | THRIVE Canada partnered with Zone Agtech to support The Go Global: Quebec Scale-Up Program and will open a satellite office within the Zone Agtech campus. Zone AgTech is building a $47 million innovation complex, where start-ups can develop and scale their technologies.
Zone Agtech has been working to bolster agtech innovation in Quebec, solving Canadian growers’ problems, since its launch in 2020, Marilou Cyr, executive director of Zone Agtech, told AgTechNavigator. Zone Agtech is focusing on four areas of the agrifood chain, including controlled environments, ag robotics, vegetable bioproducts, and sustainable foods, like alternative proteins and algae, Cyr said.
“The mission of Zone Agtech is to bring together, propel, and showcase agtech and plant bioproduct companies to address today’s and tomorrow’s agricultural challenges. This partnership with FCC marks a decisive milestone: it recognizes the importance of our mission not only in Quebec, but now across Canada. It represents a major step forward in establishing Zone Agtech as a recognized ecosystem and innovation cluster of international calibre.” Cyr said in a press release.
Canada’s changing regulatory environment can lead to agtech wins
Start-ups are also benefiting from a changing regulatory environment in Canada, allowing innovation to move more freely across Canada, Cyr explained.
The One Canadian Economy Act was passed on June 26 in response to the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada. The law rolled back interprovincial trade restrictions, which were long viewed as a major hurdle to free trade across Canada.
“When you develop your company in Quebec and you want to sell it in Ontario, you have ... to adjust to the regulations of Ontario. So, that was pretty hard before, and now Canada is working to [be] regulation-free between provinces,” Cyr elaborated.
