Ottawa—While the food supply chain came through during the pandemic, government needs to encourage automation in food and beverage plants to ensure they work well in the future, says Serge Buy, CEO of the Agri-Food Innovation Council. Automating repetitive tasks functions would result in increased efficiencies and fewer worker injuries and free up people to work in value-added jobs, he told the Commons agriculture committee, which is studying processing capacity in Canada. The government-funded program “to facilitate the adoption of technology for food manufacturers and processing plants would go a long way to support companies with the large capital investments required.” It also needs to help address a gap between research and commercialization. There also needs to be more incubators and accelerators to help start-up and smaller companies expand their operations as well as funding to help them bring new products to market, he said. The agrifood research and innovation sector is underserved in terms of private investment. Government should also consider collaborating “with industry to actively attract private investments in agrifood research and innovation by promoting opportunities, success stories and incentives for investments. We could give you many examples where fantastic research and innovations have been done in Canada, but commercialized in the U.S. because that's where the money is. “It is taxation and investment promotion policies that will enable us to do better. To this end, the government could also put in place targeted policies.” One problem with existing programs is that they usually require job creation, he said. “When we talk about automation, we are not really talking about job creation initially, but probably about new training and changes in duties. It is obvious that automation will make some jobs disappear, which will create a barrier to capital access through financing programs.” There also needs to infrastructure investments for universities, smaller enterprises and development centres, Buy said. “When investors look at Canada, they look at natural resources. They don't look at agriculture and agri-food. Maybe the Canadian government should do more promotion on this side.”. There also needs to be better links between food producers and processors and value-added sector. Canada needs to deal its interprovincial trade barriers. “The agreement on internal trade was a first step. It is frustrating for people not to be able to move products as easily as they should.” Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.