Lakeland College is receiving some support towards agricultural programs from MNP.
The school announced Monday that they’d been given a $90,000 donation by the firm, which provides accounting, tax, and business consulting for Canada’s agriculture industry.
A portion of this donation will be going towards the Agriculture Technology Centre on the Vermilion Campus, set to open this Fall. It will house the Bachelor of Agriculture Technology program, the first of it’s kind in the Country.
Half of the donation will go towards applied research, which the school notes will lead to developments to help producers better understand and use new agriculture technologies.
Director of Livestock Services and VP Hutterite Services at MNP Scott Dickson says the donation was because Lakeland College and the alumni who build the future of the ag industry were a natural fit for a partnership.
Lakeland President and CEO Dr.Alice Wainwright-Stewart added that the Ag Tech Centre will be a central hub for collecting and analyzing data on their student lead farm. In turn, Wainwright-Stewart says, this will create better efficiency and quality of livestock and crops, along with new technology for the future of the industry.
MNP originally was one of 40 industry partners and agricultural organizations whose consultation would eventually develop the degree program.