Canadian Seed Growers’ Association uses process automation to pioneer digital-first agriculture

By: Angelica Reyes

Process automation simplifies work, and helps organizations securely drive employee efficiency and collaboration to support stronger business outcomes.

Organizations that have embraced process automation and focus on building a secure, modern digital infrastructure have stood out for their resilience and agility to successfully navigate changing business environments and customer needs. Specifically, a digital-forward or digital-first infrastructure is a key enabler of innovation that helps organizations support sustainable growth, and deliver greater value to their customers.

In the agriculture industry, the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) has been at the forefront of seed crop certification system modernization and digital transformation for many years through the adoption of process automation and other digitization solutions. CSGA’s innovative transformation from paper-based to automated digital workflows helped drive innovation in their service delivery, and enabled a data-driven approach to strategic decision-making for future growth.

Streamlining key business processes  

CSGA’s digital transformation journey was driven by the need to easily connect CSGA with seed growers, farmers who specializes in seed crops, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and private seed crop inspection services across Canada to seamlessly share information, accelerate the seed crop certification process and support the production of high-quality seed.

Led by Doug Miller, CSGA Executive Director along with the support and expertise of Ricoh, CSGA embarked on a business plan to transform their entire business process to a paperless, semi-automated, electronic platform using enterprise content management (ECM) to simplify information management and improve efficiency.

Driving innovation

CSGA’s adoption of digital solutions like ECM helped drive innovation for the association and enabled them to meet changing industry needs. Using process automation and electronic forms, CSGA created SeedCert, an online portal and a one-stop shop to streamline the seed crop certification and verification process for its members and simplify the coordination between CSGA and its network of growers, inspectors and the government.

A data-driven approach to strategic decision-making

Using ECM, CSGA-certified seed crop information is stored in a secure digital database which gives employees access to valuable insights and data, enabling them to identify patterns and gather insights that could influence strategic decision-making, improve processes and operations, and strengthen relationships between seed growers and regulators — all with the goal to serve CSGA’s members and the agricultural sector as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The move to digital-forward processes helped improve pedigreed seed traceability, enabling the potential to develop new services, and allowing CSGA to track annual production data of more than 2,000 varieties of 1.2 million acres of seed crops produced in Canada.

A digital-first future for business

CSGA is finding new ways to leverage technology every day and looking to the future, CSGA expects to see a new, more diverse wave of younger producers and agricultural professionals who expect digital-first, intuitive interfaces, and quick responses to requests. This highlights the need for the agricultural sector to keep pace with new innovations and technology-driven solutions.

“Regulated sectors like agriculture are going to have to adopt digitization technologies as a necessity.”– Doug Miller, CSGA Executive Director

With the adoption of process automation and digital solutions, CSGA has adapted to this new set of expectations and changing business climate. “We’re looking ahead for the next generation of seed growers and the entire pedigreed seed certification system. We’ve already launched our digital crop certificates and taken big strides forward to a digital end-to-end seed crop certification system. Leveraging digital platforms will elevate the seed sector and Canadian Agriculture,” Miller says.

Process automation has also made it possible to certify seed crops faster and made it easier for CSGA to coordinate among its large and growing network of growers, inspectors and government. All these improvements are critical to CSGA’s mandate to deliver an excellent, national third-party seed crop certification system for Canada today – and in the future.

Be like the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association. Be an enabler of innovation, growth and value. Regardless of your size and industry, use process automation to optimize your key business processes to help your team work better, faster, and more securely. Future-proof your organization for growth. Find out more about Ricoh’s Business Process Management solutions today.