Lethbridge College and Farming Smarter, the Lethbridge-based applied research group, formalized a long-standing relationship Feb. 25 by signing a 15-year agreement.
The two entities have collaborated in the past on several levels. Farming Smarter’s headquarters is on land owned by the college, and students at the college are frequent visitors to the research group’s various sites for studies and projects.
“I think it’s important to formalize it,” said Farming Smarter general manager Ken Coles, noting the memorandum of understanding ensures a relationship will endure even if personnel changes.
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“We joke around that it’s like a marriage. We’re on their land. It is something that we wanted to make sure that we were really seriously committed to. And given the nature of ag research and the changes in the government role, we’re going to be stronger together. It’s even more important to be working together and even to be seen as working together deliberately and efficiently.”
Kenny Corscadden, associate vice-president of research at the college, said the agricultural extension opportunities offered by Farming Smarter will enhance the educational program.
“We really see it as beneficial with Farming Smarter … conducting workshops for us and labs for our students, but also with the way the government is moving towards farmer-led research, we see benefits of us formalizing our relationship and working together to move the applied research forward.”
The new agreement has three pillars: applied research and innovation; education training and knowledge transfer; and communication and branding.
“A lot of it is continuing what we’ve been doing but what it means is that as we move forward, we’re both going to be thinking about each other as we expand our operations,” said Coles.
The college has been working to develop an agriculture degree program that would build on the diploma program already offered. Farming Smarter’s farming and research operations could augment that program.
“We can offer a lot more experiential learning on the research front for those new students once that degree program gets going,” Coles said.
“We can add the relevant, real-life piece to it so it’s kind of a nice fit there.”
Coles and Corscadden said they were hopeful that the new arrangement might create more funding opportunities but given provincial budget constraints, that remains to be seen.
