Improving Canadian agriculture through the Internet of Things
Most Canadians never see the small weather stations tucked into Government of Canada fields. But they feel the impact when the data collected by those instruments helps improve agriculture in Canada. This is the Internet of Things at work.
What is the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to physical devices (“smart” or “connected” devices) that use the Internet to share information and interact with users or other devices. Smart devices can be controlled remotely and monitored or operated automatically using software, cameras and sensors.
In one proof of concept, we explored how IoT could be used to capture precise, real-time data from fields and make it useful at scale. SSC connected the weather stations, moved the data securely to the cloud, and made it visible in simple dashboards for easy sharing.
The result was reliable data from multiple fields, making it possible to observe patterns that couldn’t be seen before. This provides insight that can support crop science, climate resilience and long-term planning for Canadian agriculture.
Bill Santary, an SSC manager working on IoT, helped lead the technical side of the work.
“What I love about projects like this is how simple things like sensors and gateways can come together to make better data possible. When these tools help gather more data that can benefit Canada’s crops, that’s a quiet win we’re proud of.”
Canada’s Agriculture Day, on February 10, celebrates the people and partnerships behind our food system. We’re proud that our small part can help farmers do theirs.
It’s what we do.