WHO ARE WE?

iIMPACT uIMPACT innovation Foundation is an idea farm, with the ability to reap benefits on a global scale. We believe in the power of I and YOU, driven by innovation and passion to initiate positive change and transform our world. We cultivate programmes that are innovative and have social impact. We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as our growth markers; propagating and incubating ideas that work well.

WHAT IS UMODEL?

We know that competitions spark inventions and innovation. This is the impetus for the UMODEL Competition, which we created to honour our Founder’s family and their more than two centuries of history farming in Canada.

In the 1880s the Government of Ontario awarded prizes for the Best Managed Farm. The innovative practices identified through the winners were integrated into farming standards and in an annual report to Parliament. Our Founder’s family farm won gold and silver medals for Best Managed Farm in Ontario multiple times, earning the right to be called The Model Farm of Norfolk County, a name which continues to this day.

The innovations generated by these awards changed agricultural practices across Ontario, and many of the original criteria are still relevant in farming today. The UMODEL Competition will employ these criteria, but adapt them in a new and modern way, supporting innovation and best practices for sustainable agriculture around the world.

UMODEL will focus on modelling and adapting ideas that work from:

• Innovative practices in circular agriculture and community development

• Farm to fork practices

• Young agri-preneurial leaders spotlighting solutions to wicked Aggie problems