A mushroom-picking robot developed in Salmon Arm will be one of the beneficiaries of a government grant program aimed to help agricultural technology businesses.

TechBrew Robotics was awarded a $500,000 grant as the company develops a final prototype of the harvesting robot. According to the grant announcement, the harvesting robot can identify, locate and pick mushrooms when they are ready for harvest. It states the result is increased yield and solutions for labour issues.

The total value of the government grant program is $7.5 million and it is benefiting 21 companies around the province. Other projects funded include smart barrels for wineries and wearable technology for cattle that that will allow ranchers to track their herds.

TechBrew, which is owned and operated by Mike Boudreau, has received a few other notable investments on the way to making the mushroom-picking robot a reality. TechBrew earned $50,000 through a government-funded agritech innovation challenge in 2019 and more recently received

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