By rdnewsNOW staff

RESEARCH FUNDING

Olds College Smart Farm receives $5.1 million for Smart Ag Research Program

Jun 3, 2020 | 6:10 AM

OLDS- The Olds College Smart Farm has received $5.1 million in federal and industry funding toward its Smart Agriculture Applied Research Program.

The program aims to address the challenges and enhance the application of agriculture technology development and data utilization for broad-acre, dryland cropping systems typical in western Canada.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada contributed $2 million, along with the Canada Foundation for Innovation that invested $945,867 for new research program infrastructure.

Eight industry partners will also be supporting the new program and have committed cash and in-kind contributions totaling $2,174,870.

“Canada’s agriculture industry plays a critical role in the economic success of our country. Companies are looking for places to develop, validate and demonstrate their technologies. Producers are interested in a place where problems can be addressed and opportunities explored,” comments Stuart Cullum, President, Olds College. “The Olds College Smart Farm is designed to be that place and the Olds College Centre for Innovation is providing the leadership, by bringing the stakeholders together to advance one of Canada’s foundational industries.”

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The first projects under the new Smart Agriculture Applied Research Program are already underway,including a field-scale evaluation of an optical spot spray technology. The research team will be evaluating the effect of travel velocity, stubble conditions, and spray setting on chemical use reduction, spray efficacy, and crop yield over several growing seasons.