Arrell Food Institute director Prof. Evan Fraser spoke to the Financial Post about the launch of the Telus Agriculture business unit, which will provide supply chain management and data analytics to businesses at multiple levels of the food chain.

Telus has acquired several companies in the last year that will help build machine learning-based insights for farmers. Fraser suggested the move of the telecom industry into Canadian agriculture is long overdue, noting the industry has lagged behind other sectors in adopting big data analytics.

“The agricultural revolution is coming. It’s happening,” he said. “Canada could play a massive leadership role in shaping it.”

Fraser holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and studies food security, food prices, rural agricultural policy and how each is affected by climate change.