On Feb. 21, at the Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, AEM Ag Sector Chair Bill Hurley, AGCO, Yannick Montagano, Kubota and AEM staff met with Deputy Minister Stefanie Beck, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada and Deputy Minister Arun Thangaraj, Transport Canada to discuss the future of off-road equipment.
The three-hour roundtable dialogue explored industry R&D efforts on a variety of alternative power possibilities as unique work-cycles inherent in agriculture will dictate the types of solutions utilized to reduce carbon emissions.
“There is no one solution,” said Hurley, “We explained electric will be used where it makes sense as well as hydrogen and biofuels, and we agree with government that the technology solutions should be agnostic.”
The extensive conversation also focused on the benefits of precision agriculture and the need to look at the food system as a whole.
“The power source is not where it ends,” said Montagano, “Auto-steer, section control, variable rate, and other precision ag tools reduce our sector’s carbon footprint.”
The roundtable took place at the request of the Canadian government. AEM is grateful for these policy-setting departments expressing a strong desire to learn from industry experts. The time they invested in the discussion illustrates their genuine interest in working with industry to get it right.
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