Student Stories: Jaber Husiny
Published: August 28, 2025
Research associate at Agri-Food Data Canada; M.Sc. graduate, Department of Plant Agriculture
The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance and Agri-Food Data Canada come together to train the next generation of agri-food data leaders, building interdisciplinary expertise critical for the province’s agri-food sector.
Keeping an open mind as a student led Jaber Husiny to a full-time position with Agri-Food Data Canada, where he is learning to manage the data that will inform a tech-enabled agri-food future.
Husiny came to the University of Guelph for its unique Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management program, but he was initially unsure how he would apply his resulting environmental science and business knowledge.
“I didn’t envision what career paths lay in the agricultural sector up until my third year, when I started to apply to work-study positions,” Husiny says. “The Department of Plant Agriculture gave me my first research opportunity. I really liked research and data collection and analysis, so I continued on to a master’s.”
As an M.Sc. student in the Department of Plant Agriculture program, Husiny made a conscious effort to explore both science and data. That strategy paid off when he learned that Dr. Michelle Edwards, director of Agri-Food Data Canada (ADC), hosted at the University of Guelph, was seeking students to fill several roles.
“At the time, I wasn’t as familiar with data management and what was involved, but it intrigued me,” he says.
Initially, Husiny digitized historical data as an ADC research assistant. Now full-time, he manages data and coordinates training for the Climate Smart Data Collaboration Centre project.
Learning to work with data
Volumes of research data generated since U of G’s Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) was established 150 years ago had remained largely undigitized and inaccessible. As part of a project to make this historical data accessible, Husiny worked to preserve data using Borealis, a secure Canadian data repository.
In his work with ADC, Husiny has developed practical and technical skills in data collection and organization. “Every data set is like a puzzle. Some puzzles are easier than others,” he says. “It’s very rewarding when you get to solve these puzzles.”
“I love science and data. I really like what I do and what research provides. Every day is a little bit different.”
Developing skills for a data-focused future
Husiny graduated with a master of plant agriculture in 2022, just in time to see artificial intelligence (AI) take off with the release of ChatGPT.
He says he would like to remain in research and work in science and data.
“Data is the foundation of AI. That’s what you’re using to train AI models, then to make decisions and forecasts,” Husiny says. “Agriculture is evolving and becoming more automated, but for automation to work well you need to have a lot of data over time.
“In the sciences, you rely on data. Without good data, it’s hard to make good decisions. I wish people knew how important it is to have the data accessible.
“For anyone who’s not familiar or doesn’t know data, give it a shot. It’s not as scary as you think.”