Areas of expertise
- Plant Science & crop research
- Industry-academic partnerships
- Agritech funding landscape
- Stakeholder engagement
- Workforce development & talent pipeline
SHe can help you with
- Explaining BCCAI programs
- Facilitating industry-academic collaborations
- Exploring partnership opportunities
- Co-creating knowledge-sharing events
- Strategic sponsorship opportunities
About Rachel
Rachel Backer has a background in agronomy, plant science and business development. During her career she developed research on biochar application to Quebec soils and biocontrol development for cannabis fungal pathogens. She has worked with a variety of cropping systems including tree fruits, vineyards, field crops, and cannabis. She previously worked in business development at Mitacs to support academic-industry collaborative research projects across sectors with a focus on agriculture.
She joined BCCAI in 2024, motivated by the potential to bring together academics, companies, farmers and community members to solve real challenges in agriculture.
Since joining BCCAI, Rachel has enjoyed traveling across BC and learning about the diverse agriculture and agri-food systems and meeting the people working across the sector. Rachel is an articling agrologist registered with BC Institute of Agrologist. She holds a bachelor of biochemistry from Bishop鈥檚 University in addition to a PhD in plant science from McGill University.
"My goal as partnerships manager at BC Centre for Agritech Innovation is to bring together diverse voices and needs to solve real-world challenges in BC agriculture through innovation. By collaborating with farmers, companies and researchers, I aim to harness their unique perspectives and expertise to identify and address pressing issues. Having grown up in BC, I鈥檓 deeply passionate about supporting the people and food systems that sustain our province."