OLDS - The newly announced expansion of the Olds College Smart Farm operations into Saskatchewan represents an important step forward in ag-tech training and research opportunities, says Olds College president Stuart Cullum.
Olds College is expanding the Smart Farm operation to the neighbouring province thanks to the donation of 800 acres of land west of Craik, Saskatchewan by Margery Steckler and her late husband George.
“With the recent gift, Olds College has an exciting opportunity to collaborate with local producers, post-secondary institutions, and industry partners in the province to help train the next generation of ag leaders and support the development, validation and adoption of tech innovations throughout the agri-food sector,” said Cullum.
The expansion will provide ag-tech training and research opportunities that align and support the needs of Saskatchewan learners, producers and agriculture industry, he said.
The Olds College Smart Farm allows industry partners to bring technology onto a commercial scale farm where they can develop it, test it, validate it, and demonstrate it, while at the same time giving students an opportunity to be exposed to the latest ag technology.
The new Olds College Saskatchewan Smart Farm will “focus on using technology and practices to improve the overall productivity, profitability, and sustainability of food production,” he said.
Incorporating the Saskatchewan land into the Olds College Smart Farm will allow the college and its partners to leverage 3,600 acres, including a 140-head cow/calf herd, sheep flock and feedlot.
“All of which is managed as close as possible to a commercial farm operation, while also being a living lab space to provide infrastructure for innovation, development, validation, demonstration and scaling of ag technologies and practices,” he said.
Asked if the new Saskatchewan facility is an entirely new entity, Blayne Meek, Olds College corporate communications and marketing director, told the Albertan: “The land is part of the Olds College Smart Farm. The operational model will be a bit different from our Alberta land base as we will be working with Saskatchewan-based producers to farm the land, but research and demo activities will be managed by the Olds College team.”
Asked if Olds College students and instructors will be travelling to the new site for classes and instructions, she said: “Possibly, but the expected use case is to utilize this land base as an opportunity to demonstrate and learn about technologies that facilitate remote management of data and operations.
“Research team members from Olds will certainly be travelling to the site for project activities.”
Asked when the new facility will become operational, she said: “We will be farming the land and the research team will be engaging in some activities with industry partners during the 2022 growing season.”
Several partners involved in new initiative
Partners in the new initiative include Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Raven Industries, Carlson Agriculture and Wildfong Enterprises.
Dr. Larry Rosia is the president and CEO of Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
“Our applied research experience and industry connections in the tech and agriculture sectors will benefit all involved in this innovative new project, including students and industry partners,” said Rosia.
Raven Industries’ Ben Voss is director of sales in North America and Australia.
“Olds College has been a pioneer for autonomy in agriculture for years. Their expansion to Saskatchewan with such a dynamic operation proves their steadfast dedication to autonomous agriculture in all aspects,” said Voss.
Jeff Carlson is president of Carlson Agriculture Enterprises.
“As producers in Saskatchewan, Carlson Agriculture and Wildfong Enterprises understands the importance of innovation and technology adaptation,” said Carlson.
“We are excited to be working closely with Russ Wildfong, whose deep ties and over a century off history in the Craik region will help ensure the success of the applied research and in-field learning at the Olds College Saskatchewan Smart Farm.”
