A $2 million agreement between the provincial government and Lethbridge College will see the handover of 200 acres and three pivots at the Alberta Irrigation Technology Centre, located just outside of Lethbridge, from the province to the college.
“To have the irrigation lands available for our research is just amazing, it increases the capacity a lot, we can have more students involved and we can actually have more connections with the industry and the partners doing research,” said Paula Burns, CEO and president at Lethbridge College.
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The Brooks Greenhouse, a research facility capable of testing crops on a commercial scale, will also be transferred to the college.
Five additional staff members will be hired by the college to run the facilities which will be used to conduct research Alberta farmers can apply in the field.
Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said this transition ensures farmers and ranchers are leading agriculture research priorities — not government.
“Researchers and the staff will continue but there is also going to be a kind of refocus of results-driven research, we want to have solutions-based research, not research for the sake of research being done but actually having practical common sense applications.”
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The University of Lethbridge signed a $1.8 million agreement with the government, which transferred three programs to the university, along with funding for three researchers, listed below.
- Shelley Hoover, apiculture and pollination
- Michele Konschuh, irrigated crops
- Kim Stanford, livestock pathogens
“These researchers will move to the University of Lethbridge, they will locate two of them here, in the science commons, and one in the water building so they will become part of our research community which we are very excited about,” said Mike Mahon, president of the University of Lethbridge.
The provincial funding is in place for a three year term.