AgTech News

AI4Food.ai Welcomes Joe Dales as Strategic Advisor, Industry and Partnerships Guelph, Ontario — Artificial Intelligence for Food (AI4Food), an initiative based at the University of Guelph, is pleased to announce that Joe Dales has joined its team as: Strategic Advisor, Industry and Partnerships.

“We are thrilled to welcome Joe to the AI4Food team,” said Dr. Rozita Dara, Co-Director of AI4Food and Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Guelph.

“Joe brings decades of hands-on experience building and investing in agri-food innovation, along with a deep network across industry, government and the investment community. His insight will be invaluable as we work to connect research with real-world impact across the agriculture and food sectors.”

Joe Dales is co-founder of RHA Ventures Inc., an early-stage venture capital and commercialization firm focused on accelerating innovation in agriculture and food. With more than 35 years of experience in agribusiness, agri-tech and entrepreneurship, he has launched or supported more than 40 agricultural innovations, spanning crop protection products, seed technologies, biologicals and high-growth technology companies. Earlier in his career, he co-founder of two pioneering digital agriculture companies, AgCareers.com and Farms.com.

Beyond his venture and entrepreneurial work, Joe has extensive corporate governance experience, serving on the boards of organizations including the Canadian Agri-Food Automation & Intelligence Network (CAAIN), the Western Fair Association, RHA portfolio companies, Canterra Seeds and Vive Crop Protection. He is well known across Canada’s agri-food innovation ecosystem for building strategic partnerships between industry, government, researchers and investors.

In his new role with AI4Food, Joe will help guide the initiative’s industry engagement and partnership strategy, connecting the program’s research and technology development with the commercialization pathways and investment networks needed to bring innovation to the agri-food sector.

“I’m excited to join AI4Food at such a pivotal time for the agriculture and food industries,” said Joe Dales. “AI has the potential to transform how we grow, process and distribute food, and I look forward to helping bridge the gap between the research happening here and the industry partners and investors who can help scale it.”

AI4Food brings together researchers, industry leaders and technology experts to pioneer research and learning at the intersection of responsible, data-driven technologies and AI in agricultural and food systems. The initiative’s steering committee spans expertise in robotics, soil health, poultry, computational mathematics, greenhouse technologies, plant breeding, human-computer interaction, cattle systems and food engineering, among other areas.

For more information about AI4Food and its leadership team, visit ai4food.ai/committee.

About AI4Food
Artificial Intelligence for Food (AI4Food) is an initiative based at the University of Guelph that seeks to pioneer research and learning at the intersection of responsible, data-driven technologies and AI in agricultural and food systems.