Solving one of agriculture’s biggest bottlenecks: labour
Finding enough workers to plant, maintain, harvest, and process food has become one of the most pressing challenges facing agriculture today. In Canada alone, labour shortages contribute to billions of dollars in lost production each year, leaving crops unharvested and adding pressure to an already strained food system.
For Toronto-based startup Yadag, that challenge became an opportunity to rethink how farms connect with workers.
With support from the Grow Ontario Accelerator Hub (GOAH), administered by Bioenterprise Canada, Yadag refined its go-to-market strategy, strengthened industry connections, and validated demand for its platform—helping the company move closer to product-market fit while addressing one of agriculture’s most persistent challenges.
Tackling the critical labour challenge
Co-founded by CEO Issam El Missaoui after relocating to Canada, Yadag was born from a simple observation: while many agri-tech companies focus on robotics, precision agriculture, and biotechnology, few are tackling the labour shortage that underpins the entire food production system.
Raised in Morocco in a family deeply connected to agriculture, El Missaoui spent more than a decade working at the intersection of agriculture and technology. There, he witnessed labour challenges firsthand, and after arriving in Canada he realized the issue was even more acute.
“We found that growers weren’t just struggling to fill a few positions, they were struggling to find any workers at all,” says El Missaoui. “And beyond recruitment, farms were spending enormous amounts of time managing paperwork, visas, housing, and compliance. They were effectively running a small human resource operation alongside their farm.”
Yadag was built to simplify that process.
Using AI-powered screening and digital tools, the platform connects growers with qualified seasonal workers while streamlining recruitment, onboarding, training, compliance, and workforce management.
“We’re not just matching workers to jobs,” says El Missaoui. “We help farms access qualified labour, but we also manage what comes next—from immigration and onboarding to training, compliance, timekeeping, and ongoing workforce operations.”
Refining a go-to-market strategy through GOAH
When Yadag joined GOAH, the company had already built a working minimum viable product (MVP). What it needed next was access to growers and trusted industry relationships.
“Agriculture is a relationship-driven industry,” says El Missaoui. “You don’t scale through ads. You scale through trust.”
Working closely with Bioenterprise Innovation Advisor Rodrigo Santana through GOAH, Yadag focused on refining its go-to-market strategy and building connections across Ontario’s agri-food ecosystem.
“We spent time refining the fundamentals,” says Santana. “From market focus and value proposition to fundraising strategy and business structure—that groundwork has already translated into meaningful results, including $350,000 in equity financing, successful pilot testing, key hires, and the company’s first paying customers. Most importantly, Yadag is now positioned to scale.”
Santana says he was most impressed by Issam’s willingness to listen, adapt, and do the work required to build a strong foundation.
“Rodrigo was practical, no fluff, and challenged our thinking,” says El Missaoui. “He helped us stay focused on what actually moves the business forward.”
GOAH also connected Yadag with grower associations and industry groups, allowing the company to engage with larger audiences of producers and influencers rather than relying solely on one-on-one conversations. For a company working to validate a new approach to agricultural labour, those connections proved invaluable.
Building momentum
During its time in GOAH, the company secured multiple grower customers, generated strong testimonials, and moved significantly closer to product-market fit. At the same time, support from The Engine network extended beyond commercialization.
Bioenterprise Innovation Advisor Evan Hall also boosted Yadag’s fundraising efforts.
“What stood out to me immediately about Issam and the Yadag team was their energy, humility, and genuine passion for solving a real problem,” says Hall. “They’ve shown a rare combination of determination and execution—building a company in a new country, gaining traction, generating revenue, and attracting investment, all while staying deeply connected to the practical needs of their customers. Workforce management, particularly around temporary and international labour, is one of the most significant challenges facing farms today, and Yadag is addressing a clear pain point with meaningful value for the sector.”
Through Bioenterprise Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine, the company also benefited from introductions, workshops, and networking opportunities.
“We had better connections, better positioning, and access to the right resources,” says El Missaoui. “That allowed us to learn faster and move faster.”
A practical, agriculture-focused approach
For El Missaoui, one of GOAH’s greatest strengths was its flexibility, adapting support to the unique needs of his company.
“GOAH isn’t a generic accelerator. It was accessible and very hands-on,” he says. “And it was refreshing to work with people who actually know agriculture, people who understood the industry and what we were trying to accomplish.”
Strengthening Ontario’s food system
While Yadag’s platform focuses on labour, its impact reaches far beyond hiring activities. Reliable access to qualified workers directly affects food production, farm profitability, and supply chain resilience.
“When farms don’t have the right workers ready at the right time, crops can be delayed or left unharvested and the entire production flow is affected,” says El Missaoui. “Our platform helps farms manage their labour more effectively, making the entire system more reliable.”
In one greenhouse deployment, Yadag supported the onboarding and arrival of 61 workers while significantly reducing onboarding time by 97% and creating a single source of truth for worker readiness, documents, and compliance.
By improving labour access, worker readiness, and communication, Yadag contributes to a more efficient, resilient food system that supports Ontario’s goals around innovation, competitiveness, and food security.
Looking ahead
With strong early customer validation and growing industry interest, Yadag is now focused on scaling across Ontario and expanding into other agricultural regions across Canada.
Yadag ultimately aims to become the leading labour operating system for agriculture across North America.
“We know the value is there,” says El Missaoui. “Now it’s about execution, scaling, and helping more farms access the workforce they need to succeed.”
Agricultural employers looking to simplify recruitment, onboarding, compliance, timekeeping, and workforce management can learn more at Yadag.io.
This achievement is made possible in part through the Grow Ontario Accelerator Hub (GOAH), administered by Bioenterprise Canada and funded by the Governments of Canada and Ontario through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
The GOAH initiative supports OMAFA’s Grow Ontario strategy, which aims to increase the creation and adoption of innovations for the agri-food sector to enhance competitiveness, grow market opportunities, and strengthen the sector against future disruptions. Yadag contributes to these goals by helping agricultural employers access qualified labour more efficiently, reducing operational bottlenecks, and supporting a more reliable and resilient food supply chain for Ontario.
The Grow Ontario Accelerator Hub and Bioenterprise Canada are supported by the Governments of Canada and Ontario through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative.