Alberta launches $60-million challenge for agricultural innovation

New funding aims to bring promising technologies into practical use across Alberta’s agriculture, water and land sectors.

Alberta is making up to $60 million available to advance technologies that improve agricultural productivity, conserve water and restore land to productive use.

The new Agriculture, Water and Land Challenge, delivered through Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), will support innovative projects with the potential to demonstrate measurable economic and environmental benefits under real-world conditions.

For Alberta’s beef producers, the initiative could create opportunities to test and adopt technologies that improve livestock management, reduce operating costs and make more efficient use of land and water resources.

From innovation to practical application

The competition is designed to help promising technologies move beyond research and development into field testing, demonstration and commercial use.

Potential projects relevant to the beef industry include precision livestock technologies, improved nutrient and manure management, livestock methane reduction, water management systems and technologies that recover value from agricultural byproducts.

The challenge also supports innovations in land reclamation, soil management and water treatment, including approaches that could help return disturbed land to productive use.

“Producers are practical. They’ll adopt a new technology when they’ve seen it work on a farm like theirs, with results they can trust,” says Chris Paterson, executive director of AgSphere.

Funding and eligibility

Farmers, ranchers, technology developers, industry associations, research organizations, municipalities, Indigenous communities and other eligible applicants can participate.

Projects must be piloted, demonstrated or deployed in Alberta and show clear potential for economic and environmental benefits.

The program is funded through Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund. Successful applicants must provide matching private contributions of at least one dollar for every dollar of ERA funding. Eligible cash and in-kind contributions can count toward that requirement.

The competition is focused on technologies ready for practical testing or deployment, rather than early-stage research alone.

Applications open until December 16

Expressions of Interest must be submitted by December 16, 2026.

ERA will also host an information webinar on November 12 to explain funding requirements, eligibility and the application process.

Producers and organizations interested in participating can find full program details, application guidelines and webinar registration through Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Agriculture, Water and Land Challenge.