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Lakeland College receives ag research funding

June 27, 2013 - Agricultural research at Lakeland College received a boost last week, with a $2.3 million investment from the College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program. Lakeland College, with campuses in Vermilion and Lloydminster, Alta., was awarded a five-year grant that includes base funding of $500,000 a year for the first three years, and $400,000 per year for the remaining two years.

The funding will expand the college's capability to engage in commercial agriculture applied research projects in partnership with industry while also building the rural bio-economy. The research will be focused on three key areas: livestock energy and nutritional efficiency; enhancing crop management; and advancing the bioeconomy.

Planned projects include cattle and sheep feed ration trials, investigating opportunities to use agricultural residues for biochar or in a co-generation gasifier, and exploring agronomic production practices for growing Jerusalem artichokes. Some of the funding will be used to upgrade Lakeland's livestock research centre which houses GrowSafe System technology used for feed trials.

The CCI Program is managed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

This is the second time Lakeland College has received NSERC funding. In 2010 the college was awarded a five-year $2.3 million grant for research linked to its programs in environmental sciences.

June 27, 2013  By Top Crop Manager