The Western Grains Research Foundation has announced investments in a pair of projects.
On Jan. 26, the WGRF announced a $300,000 contribution to the Mackenzie Applied Research Association (MARA) located in northern Alberta’s Mackenzie County.
The funding will help pay for the construction of a new agronomy centre and repair shop that will be used to advance agricultural research in northern Alberta.
Local producers will contribute another $300,000 toward the project.
The new facility will be located in Fort Vermilion, about 650 kilometres north of Edmonton and will serve farmers in the Fort Vermilion, La Crete and High Level areas.
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Mackenzie County is among Canada’s most northerly crop-producing regions. Annual crop production is expanding rapidly in the area, highlighting the need for additional research.
“Our current research and workshop facility is antiquated and very expensive to operate,” said Greg Newman, board chair at MARA.
“The new facility will allow staff to process samples and build and repair specialized equipment to better serve the farming community in our region.”
The new building will help MARA reach its long-term goal of building an agriculture research site able to produce high level research.
As well, on Jan. 21 WGRF confirmed a $60,000 infrastructure investment to the Yorkton Research Farm, in Yorkton, Sask., managed by Parkland College and the East Central Research Foundation (ECRF).
“The majority of the work conducted by the farm currently involves small plot grain crop production, said Michael Hall, research co-ordinator with Parkland College.
“This funding from WGRF will help to increase our capacity to do forage work and on-farm field scale work to address issues not found on the experimental farm. Every asset purchased will support the entire research program.”
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