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develop integrated solutions to keep facilities in step with leading-edge technology. "One of the things that we're doing more and more is—it's a buzzword in the industry—it's called layering or dashboarding," said Peter Bernatsky, PSB Integration's President. "We're taking all these systems that make up a modern building and tying them together—your lighting system, your motorized shades, your security, your access control, your audio/video." Bernatsky added, "I think that's what's going to drive our business even further. As companies use technology to make operations more efficient and less costly, the sky's the limit for us." ENVIRONMENTAL & AGRIBUSINESS As consumers move to greener lifestyles, it has meant a surge in business for environmental and agriculture producers to keep up with the demand. Conviron is a Winnipeg-based designer and supplier of plant growth chambers and controlled environment technology for plant research, regulated cannabis production and plant- derived pharmaceuticals. Its projects range from single- chamber installations to large-scale, multi-room research and horticultural facilities, and the company is optimistic about the opportunities for its industry. "We are in a very active marketspace, and we are growing," said John Proven, Conviron's President & Chief Operating Officer. "We're leaders in providing controlled environment technologies for plant growth needed by our clients who seek to advance agriculture production and understand climate change and its effect on food security and the environment. These are urgent global issues that we face every day and that propel our business forward." Global climate change is driving the trend toward controlled environments on two related fronts: plant research and commercial plant production. As weather patterns trend toward more volatility, commercial growers are looking toward indoor and greenhouse growing for greater control and predictability. "We are specialists in controlled environments for plant research," said Proven. "We create the exact growing conditions—temperature, light, humidity, carbon dioxide—that a researcher needs to grow specific plants, test their hypotheses and drive advancements." Proven explained, "In the research world, scientists are typically looking for a plant response to an environmental change, from which they then learn to refine a crop. They may use a plant growth chamber to develop a strain that may be cold-tolerant, which is particularly relevant to northern climates, or may be more drought resistant for increasingly arid regions. All these experiments need controlled temperature, light and humidity to replicate weather effects including the extremes of heat, dryness and even frost." Outdoors, in uncontrolled environments, MacDon Industries Ltd. sees business opportunities because of changing weather patterns impacting the agriculture sector. The company is a manufacturer of high-performance harvesting equipment. Part of its 70-plus years of success can be attributed to the people behind the company. "We spend a lot of time in the field understanding what the problems are," said Kiera Young, MacDon's Senior Vice President, Customers, Products & Services. "We look for people who want to solve problems and who are always curious. When you're a product company, you've got to keep evolving your product. It's a really fertile environment to start a career and then continue and expand in it." As many industries move to automation which could reduce the workforce, MacDon feels it is a matter of striking the right balance in its day-to-day operations. "It's that mix of automating and physical labour," said Young. "I think there's a lot of opportunity to think through how you can do both rewarding work and increase your efficiency. Right now, with the commodity prices where they are and the yields where they are, it just means that there is interest and demand in agriculture and we're going into what could be an extended seven-year cycle. We have to think about how we gain efficiency because you only have so much footprint and you only have so many people." Courtesy of Conviron 23 YES! WINNIPEG REAL OPPORTUNITY

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