Seventy-four producer-led projects will go ahead across Saskatchewan this summer through the Agricultural Demonstration of Practices and Technologies, or ADOPT, program.
The federal and provincial governments announced a record $608,000 in funding for the summer projects submitted by 31 producer organizations.
Funding for fall 2011 projects will increase, the ministers also said, from $50,000 per year per project to $75,000. Applications are due June 15.
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud announced the funding at the recent Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan annual meeting in Regina.
He said demonstration sites of new varieties or practices are critical to determining whether producers will actually benefit.
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“There’s a lot of good work going (on) out there in research but if we don’t get it out to farmers right at the farmgate they don’t get the dvantage of that knowledge,” he told reporters.
The projects represent the agricultural spectrum, including grains, oilseeds, livestock, fruits, vegetables, organic production, forage and pulses.
For example, a project in the Moose Jaw area will demonstrate DNA technology in a commercial cow herd, while in the Kelvington area a project will examine seeding establishment methods for organic caraway.
Vegetable growers will be evaluating new herbicides and fungicides, as well as a product to control sprouting in onions during long term storage.
Producers will be able to evaluate the projects during field days.
