• GoodLeaf Farms, a Canadian hydroponic vertical farm operator, has signed a USD 2.5 million partnership deal with Adastra, a multinational AI and technology firm, to jointly develop an AI-based platform to optimize growing conditions for crops. 

• The platform will capture plant-centric measurements and image-based data, which will then be used to optimize crop yields and improve quality at GoodLeaf’s farms in Ontario. It will also help upstream partners to develop optimized seeds and substrates suited for growing at GoodLeaf’s farms. Other partners for the project include the University of Guelph, SunGro, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

• The project is also backed by Scale AI, a Canadian supercluster funding AI-based R&D projects, which will provide USD 1 million in financial support for the project to GoodLeaf.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake:  The AI-based platform is likely to advance operations at GoodLeaf Farms and support its plans to sell fresh produce to grocery stores across Eastern and Western Canada by early 2023. As of date, the company operates two farms in Canada: one in Ontario (45,000 sq ft) and the other in Alberta (74,000 sq ft facility, expected to come online by the end of 2022).</ul>