Lakeland College is receiving $1.8 Million towards its commercial agriculture research program.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada will be providing $300,000 for the next three years to the school, which will be matched by industry partners.
The college says some of this new money will go towards hiring new experts in the crop, livestock, bioinformatics and machine learning sciences, as well as two new research technologists. The applied research will be in projects that help several commercial agriculture sectors.
The funding began on April 1st, and so far Lakeland has completed 20 crops and livestock research programs, which they say enhanced multiple products and services. It has also attracted over one million dollars in partner and in-kind funding.
Dean of Agriculture Studies Josie Van Lent said in a statement that the NSERC funding helps Lakeland to continue applied research, and opens the door for the school to work closely with industry partners so that they can incorporate the changing needs for agriculture into courses.
The school says funding will also go into the Vermilion Campus’ Student-Managed Farm. The farm sees about 170 students annually, and some of this money will give students more access to unique equipment to learn about various agriculture sectors.
Funding will continue until March 31st, 2023.