October 11th is World Egg Day, and come rain or shine — or even snow, Canadian farmers are out promoting the business of eggs.

The special day was established at the International Egg Commission conference held at Vienna back in 1996. The celebration occurs on the second Friday of October each year and is meant to raise awareness of the nutritional benefits of eggs and the role they play feeding families across the globe.

This year, Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) have brought on Chef Lynn Crawford to help share the benefits of eggs.

“Egg farmers across the country work year-round to provide us with access to amazing, delicious and nutritious eggs,” says chef Crawford. “I applaud the expertise and commitment of every Canadian egg farmer and I am proud to be able to showcase the important role eggs play in simple, everyday moments, like making a meal for my family. This World Egg Day, let’s honour our local egg farmers for their dedication in producing a quality ingredient used in kitchens across our country.”

To show your love of eggs, the EFC is asking those to take to social media and use the hashtag #WorldEggDay along with tagging them on Twitter, @eggsoeufs.

According to a news release, in 2018, it marked the 12th consecutive year that egg sales have grown. To match the demand, Canadian egg farmers produced more than 752 million dozen eggs.

Roger Pelissero, chair of EFC, says, “Canadians love eggs and egg farmers are passionate about delivering a steady supply of nutritious, made-in-Canada eggs.”

We were supposed to be in grocery stores today for #WorldEggDay but the snow is keeping us home. Ask me a question about #eggs #mbstorm pic.twitter.com/jEdW2s8F6M

— Eric (@4dfarmsEric) October 11, 2019

The Quebec government has given $4.7 million in funding to Gestion AgrIA for development of a predictive and global monitoring technology, and for the company to research higher crop yields achieved with less pollution. The money comes from the province’s Green Fund, where revenue comes mainly from the carbon market, with additional support from the government to help transition to a low carbon economy.

The non-profit organization is comprised of three partners including Hortau, Les Fermes Tri-Jardins, and Houblon des Jarrets Noirs.

The organization has been working since late 2017 in developing the first predictive and global monitoring tool for crop production in order to substantially boost yields and productivity while reducing inputs such as water, fertilizer, pesticides, and energy. According to a news release, the new, fully digital technology redefines the needs, diagnosis methods, and approaches used in agronomic interventions through real-time, continuous measurements and techniques from the field of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning.

The made-in-Quebec tool also significantly reduces the inputs, pollution, and greenhouse gases for a given harvest volume. Hortau has been developing the approach since 2008, making it an Internet of Things (IoT) pioneer in the agricultural sector.

“Let’s remember that agriculture uses 40% of earth’s habitable land and 70% of its water resources,” says Jocelyn Boudreau, co-founder and CEO of Hortau.

Gestion AgrIA’s overall budget is $13 million and contributes to the broader Hortau project, which has a budget of $20 million.