SECURE-AGRO Fall Institute
Five half-day sessions on the cybersecurity of Canada’s agri-food systems. Invitation only.
Overview
The SECURE-AGRO Fall Institute brings together producers, processors, technology providers, government, and researchers for a focused week on the cybersecurity of Canada’s agri-food systems. This inaugural edition runs from October 19 to 23, 2026.
The Institute is being organized through NSERC CREATE SECURE-AGRO, a national multidisciplinary initiative connecting cybersecurity, computer science, agri-food research, industry, and government expertise. Its purpose is to examine the cybersecurity, operational resilience, reliability, and public-policy challenges facing different parts of Canada’s agri-food ecosystem.
The Institute will consist of five invitation-only, sector-focused half-day sessions. Each day will bring together approximately 30 participants from academia, industry, government, producer organizations, and the cybersecurity community. Discussions will be held under the Chatham House Rule to support candid exchange among participants.
Each day focuses on a different industry within Canada’s agri-food sector.
How to attend
The Fall Institute is open to graduate students, farmers and producers, academics, policy makers, and public officials. Each day is curated to maintain a balance across these groups, so that discussions reflect the full range of perspectives in Canada’s agri-food sector.
Because sessions run under the Chatham House Rule and depend on candid, informed exchange, attendance is limited to participants we are able to verify. In practice, most participants join through an existing connection to the Institute:
- Through a speaker, panellist, or session chair. If you know someone listed in the programme, contact them directly and they can put your name forward.
- Through a sector organization or association. Producer groups, industry associations, and sector representatives at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) or the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) can introduce you to the organizing team.
- Through the NSERC CREATE SECURE-AGRO network. Anyone involved in the SECURE-AGRO programme — faculty, collaborators, partners, or trainees — can support your registration.
If none of these routes are available to you and you believe you should be in the room, write to us at fallinstitute@cybersciencelab.com with a short note about your role and your connection to the sector. We will follow up to confirm details and, where there is a fit, arrange an invitation. Places on each day are limited, and we encourage early contact.
Programme
Click a day to expand its full schedule below.
| Day | Date | Theme | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Monday, October 19, 2026 | Automated Livestock Production: Securing Reliable Dairy and Poultry Operations | Elora Dairy Research Station |
| Day 2 | Tuesday, October 20, 2026 | Downstream Agri-Food Supply Chains: Building Resilience from Inputs to Retail | Canada Cyber Foundry |
| Day 3 | Wednesday, October 21, 2026 | Precision Agriculture and Controlled Environments: Securing Crops and Greenhouses | College of Engineering (Atrium) |
| Day 4 | Thursday, October 22, 2026 | Advanced Livestock Production and Primary Processing: Resilient Beef and Pork Systems | ANNU 141, Animal Biosciences |
| Day 5 | Friday, October 23, 2026 | Agri-Food Cyber Resilience: Government Readiness, National Coordination, and Public Trust | OAC Centennial Arboretum Centre |
Day 1 — Automated Livestock Production: Securing Reliable Dairy and Poultry Operations
Elora Dairy Research Station, 6182 Second Line East, RR 2, Elora, Ontario N0B 1S0
Dairy and poultry production increasingly depends on connected milking, feeding, ventilation, environmental-control, monitoring, and farm-management systems. This session will examine how cybersecurity failures can affect operational continuity, animal health and welfare, food production, and confidence in agricultural data. Participants will identify practical measures for strengthening the reliability and resilience of increasingly automated livestock operations.
Opening remarks · 09:00–09:30
John Kelly, Deputy Minister, OMAFAA strategist and executive with experience across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, with a focus on corporate governance, commercialization of innovation, and delivering high-profile programs and projects.
Keynote · 09:30–10:00
Ali Dehghantanha, Director, Cyber Science LabCanada Research Chair in Cybersecurity at the University of Guelph, working on AI forensics — reconstructing what an AI system did and why after something goes wrong. Co-founder and CEO of Avaly.ai, an operating control layer for secure, trustworthy, self-healing AI.
Coffee Break · 10:00–10:20
Panel · 10:20–11:10 — Securing Automated Dairy and Poultry Operations: Resilience, Data Integrity, and Safe Innovation
Chair
Michelle EdwardsLeads agri-food research data strategy at the University of Guelph, connecting Food from Thought and the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance to grow Agri-Food Data Canada. Specializes in quantitative genetics, experimental design, and statistical analysis.
Members
Tom Wright, Dairy Cattle Specialist, OMAFA
Ataharul Chowdhury, Associate Professor, University of GuelphAssociate Professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, researching how knowledge mobilization, digital and participatory media, and technology stewardship can strengthen agri-food communities and combat agri-food misinformation.
This panel will examine the challenges and opportunities associated with securing connected dairy and poultry operations. Panelists will discuss cyber risks affecting automated equipment, remote access, farm-management platforms, technology vendors, and operational data. The conversation will explore how producers, technology providers, government, and researchers can improve system resilience, protect data integrity, maintain animal welfare, and support innovation without imposing unworkable burdens on farm operators.
Interactive activity · 11:15–12:00
Tabletop exercise
Day 2 — Downstream Agri-Food Supply Chains: Building Resilience from Inputs to Retail
Canada Cyber Foundry, 150 Research Lane, Suite 120, Guelph, ON N1G 4T2, Canada
Modern agri-food supply chains depend on interconnected manufacturers, distributors, transportation providers, warehouses, retailers, and digital service providers. Disruption at any point can affect product availability, food quality, traceability, and public confidence. This session will examine cybersecurity and data-sharing risks across downstream supply chains and identify opportunities to improve continuity, visibility, coordination, and resilience.
Opening remarks · 09:00–09:30
Stacey Scott, Dean, CCMPSDean of the University of Guelph’s College of Computational, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences (CCMPS), and a professor whose research focuses on human-computer interaction and collaborative and social computing.
Keynote · 09:30–10:00
Ben Davies, Chief Information Officer, Vector InstituteChief Information Officer at the Vector Institute, overseeing its scientific and business computing environments and advancing Canada’s national AI research infrastructure through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.
Coffee Break · 10:00–10:20
Panel · 10:20–11:10 — Securing the Agri-Food Supply Chain: Third-Party Risk, Trusted Data, and Resilient Logistics
Chair
Karen Hand, Director, CDAFFounder and President of Precision Strategic Solutions and Director of Canadian Digital Agri-Food (CDAF), focused on digital transformation and precision agri-food data across Canada.
Members
Eric Franke, OMAFA
This panel will explore cybersecurity challenges across agricultural input manufacturing, distribution, logistics, warehousing, and retail. Panelists will consider third-party and supplier risk, ransomware, platform dependencies, traceability, data interoperability, and continuity planning. The discussion will identify opportunities for stronger information sharing, common standards, trusted data exchange, coordinated incident response, and investment in supply-chain resilience.
Interactive activity · 11:15–12:00
Innovation Runway competition
Day 3 — Precision Agriculture and Controlled Environments: Securing Crops and Greenhouses
College of Engineering (Atrium), 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON
Crop production and controlled-environment agriculture increasingly rely on sensors, autonomous machinery, robotics, irrigation systems, environmental controls, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based platforms. These technologies create significant opportunities for productivity and sustainability, but they also introduce new operational and cybersecurity dependencies. This session will examine how farms and greenhouses can adopt advanced technologies while preserving safety, reliability, data integrity, and operational control.
Opening remarks · 09:00–09:30
Moncef Nehdi, Dean, College of EngineeringDean of the University of Guelph’s College of Engineering, internationally recognized for pioneering advances in sustainable civil engineering — low-carbon cement and concrete, sustainable construction, and AI-enabled materials and structural systems.
Keynote · 09:30–10:00
Dr. Evan Fraser, Executive Director, Arrell Food InstituteExecutive Director of the Arrell Food Institute and Professor of Geography at the University of Guelph — one of Canada’s most cited scientists working on food systems, climate change, and agricultural sustainability. — “Global food security and the digital agricultural revolution”
Coffee Break · 10:00–10:20
Panel · 10:20–11:10 — Securing Precision Agriculture and Greenhouses: Connected Operations, Data Governance, and Safe Automation
Chair
Fattane Zarrinkalam, Associate Professor, School of EngineeringAssociate Professor in the University of Guelph’s School of Engineering and Principal Investigator with the Cyber Science Lab, researching social media mining and semantic technologies — extracting actionable insights from user-generated content across healthcare, telecom, legal tech, and e-commerce.
Members
Fadi Al-Daoud, Greenhouse Vegetable Specialist, OMAFA
This panel will examine the security and resilience of precision-agriculture and controlled-environment technologies. Panelists will discuss risks involving connected sensors, autonomous equipment, environmental controls, remote access, artificial intelligence, legacy systems, and vendor-managed platforms. The discussion will also address agricultural data ownership, integrity, interoperability, and responsible use, while identifying practical pathways toward secure and fail-safe automation.
Interactive activity · 11:15–12:00
TBD
Day 4 — Advanced Livestock Production and Primary Processing: Resilient Beef and Pork Systems
Beef and pork production depend on increasingly connected systems spanning farms, barns, feedlots, transportation, traceability platforms, and primary-processing operations. Cyber incidents affecting these systems can disrupt production, compromise animal welfare and worker safety, weaken biosecurity, and interrupt critical supply chains. This session will examine how the sector can improve cybersecurity while ensuring that resilience measures remain practical and accessible to operations of different sizes.
Opening remarks · 09:00–09:30
John Cranfield, Dean of OACDean of the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph, where he began as a student in agricultural economics before returning in 2001 as faculty in FARE and later serving as department chair, associate dean, and interim dean.
Keynote · 09:30–10:00
Keith Warriner, Professor of Food Science, University of GuelphProfessor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph, specializing in food safety, decontamination technologies, and risk assessment for fresh produce, meat, and eggs. Editor-in-Chief of Food Microbiology.
Coffee Break · 10:00–10:20
Panel · 10:20–11:10 — Securing Beef and Pork Operations: Continuity, Data Stewardship, and Equitable Resilience
Chair
Jana Levison, Doody Family Chair for Women in EngineeringProfessor of Civil, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at the University of Guelph and the inaugural Doody Family Chair for Women in Engineering (2022–2027), researching groundwater quality and quantity impacts from agriculture and climate change.
Members
María G. CorradiniResearches food quality, safety, and processing across the supply chain, developing procedures, protocols, and mathematical models to evaluate how handling practices affect food safety, quality, and nutrition.
This panel will explore cybersecurity and data-governance challenges across beef and pork production and primary processing. Panelists will consider operational continuity, connected livestock technologies, traceability, biosecurity, remote access, vendor dependencies, and the exchange of data among producers, processors, regulators, and service providers. The discussion will identify resilience measures that are technically effective, economically realistic, and applicable to both large enterprises and smaller operators.
Interactive activity · 11:15–12:00
Tabletop exercise
Day 5 — Agri-Food Cyber Resilience: Government Readiness, National Coordination, and Public Trust
OAC Centennial Arboretum Centre, 250 Arboretum Road, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Cybersecurity in the agri-food sector cannot be addressed by individual organizations acting alone. Effective resilience requires coordination among governments, producers, processors, technology providers, researchers, and critical-infrastructure partners. This concluding session will examine national preparedness, institutional responsibilities, incident coordination, information sharing, and the policies required to maintain public confidence in Canada’s food systems.
Opening remarks · 09:00–09:30
Rebecca Hallett, Interim AVP Research, Agri-Food PartnershipInterim Associate Vice-President Research, Agri-Food Partnership, at the University of Guelph, overseeing the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance and researching insect-based pest management for Ontario agriculture.
Keynote · 09:30–10:00
Nasser Alsukayri, ADM and CIO, Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaAssistant Deputy Minister and CIO at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, leading large-scale digital transformation initiatives focused on service design, legacy modernization, and responsible AI adoption. — “Agri-Food Cyber Resilience, Government Readiness, and Public Trust”
Coffee Break · 10:00–10:20
Panel · 10:20–11:10 — Building National Agri-Food Cyber Resilience: Governance, Preparedness, and Public Trust
Chair
Janos Botschner, CSKA CanadaA social scientist, researcher, and public-sector leader whose work spans organizational resilience and public policy, most recently focused on cybersecurity, disinformation, and other emerging technology-related threats and opportunities.
Members
TBD
This panel will examine how government, industry, academia, and sector organizations can collectively strengthen Canada’s preparedness for significant agri-food cyber incidents. Panelists will discuss roles and responsibilities, threat intelligence, incident reporting, emergency coordination, regulatory and policy gaps, public communication, and mechanisms for trusted information sharing. The panel will identify priorities for national action, investment, research, and cross-sector collaboration.
Interactive activity · 11:15–12:00
VIP lunch — presentation of the week’s findings to keynote speakers, panel members, and invited guests.
Outcome
Each day will contribute to a consolidated Canadian Agri-Food Cybersecurity Risk and Readiness Report, identifying sector-specific risks, cross-sector dependencies, control gaps, policy considerations, and priority actions for government, industry, researchers, and operators.
Organizing Committee
View committee
Institute Co-Chairs
Ali Dehghantanha
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence; Director, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Fattane Zarrinkalam
Associate Professor, School of Engineering, University of Guelph; Principal Investigator, Cyber Science Lab
Committee Members
Razieh Moradi
PhD Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Zain Ali
PhD Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Suleman Khan
PhD Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Victor Vezina
MSc Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Sumesh Kumar
MSc Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph
Wilma Vieira
Master student, Lang School of Business and Management, University of Guelph
Adam Davis
MSc Student, Cyber Science Lab, University of Guelph