Ottawa puts up to $1.69 million into AI crop tools for vineyards
Federal funding will help Toronto-based Vivid Machines adapt its imaging and machine-learning system from apple orchards to grape vineyards.
The federal government is providing up to $1,693,412 to Vivid Machines Inc. to adapt its crop-imaging and machine-learning system for Canadian vineyards.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced the investment on September 10 through the AgriScience Program. The Toronto-based company will expand technology already used in apple orchards so it can scan grapevines from cameras mounted on farm equipment.
Project remains in development
The planned work includes upgrading the company’s Vivid XV camera and training computer-vision models to identify early signs of crop disease, track fruit quality and estimate yields by vine, row and block.
The department says the project is intended to give growers real-time information that could help protect crops, reduce chemical use and improve planning. Those are project goals, not completed outcomes; the release does not provide a deployment date or promise that every vineyard will receive the technology.
The AgriScience Program supports pre-commercial research under the five-year, $3.5-billion Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership involving federal, provincial and territorial governments.
Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, published September 10, 2026.
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