OLDS — Olds College has received nearly $1 million to help grow agriculture technology programs.
It’s part of nearly $2.1 million worth of grants for Olds College, Red Deer College (RDC) and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).
The money is earmarked for things like 3D printing, clean energy, and smart agriculture.
However, Advanced Education critic David Eggen is not impressed by that announcement.
He says it’s not new money and won’t make up for the funding cuts announced by the Alberta government earlier.
The money was provided via the Alberta government’s Research Capacity Program (RCP).
RDC received almost $150,000 and SAIT received nearly $1 million.
At Olds College, the money is going into its Smart Agriculture Applied Research Program.
It will be used to buy agricultural equipment, sensors, devices and computers to support the growth of agriculture technology research.
“We are very excited to receive this funding from the government of Alberta towards our smart agriculture applied research program,” Joy Agnew, the college’s associate vice-president of applied research, said in a news release.
“The funding from RCP will allow us to deliver an exciting program and it is expected to attract additional partners and grant funding for projects related to automation and digitization of agriculture.”
The Olds College Smart Farm has several agriculture technology applied research projects underway.
They include the DOT autonomous farm equipment project that is exploring the economic, environmental, and labour benefits of autonomous equipment for broadacre production.
Another is the WEED-IT spot sprayer project that is evaluating the economic benefits of spot spraying technology.
“Olds College continues to lead in innovation and research,” Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper said in the news release.
He said the college “leads the country in smart ag technology while meeting the needs of producers right here in Alberta.”
Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer touted the grants in a news release.
“This investment will help get Albertans back to work now, and prepare our next generation for the jobs of tomorrow in manufacturing, energy and agriculture.
One of Alberta's greatest strengths is our ability to tackle challenges through innovation,” he said.
“Growing these programs will make our province even more competitive as we turn ideas into reality, creating jobs and prosperity.”
Eggen was more skeptical.
“He said the grants amount to less than one per cent of cuts already made to the province’s post-secondary institutions in 2019 and 2020.
“Alberta’s post-secondary institutions are key to the economic recovery of our province, and the UCP are making our institutions fend for themselves.
“This will result in higher tuition costs and diminishes the ability of these institutions to support staff and students in their capacity to drive innovation and prosperity,” he wrote.
