The United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited (UFA) has committed $500,000 to Olds College.
The school will receive the money over a five-year period. It will enable them to create the UFA Innovation Lab that will be located in the school's Smart Ag Innovation Centre.
Construction is expected to be completed December of this year and will be a technological hub for the campus that students and staff can use to gain and share knowledge, build networks and turn innovative ideas and concepts into solutions that will benefit the agriculture industry.
The money provided by UFA will also go into funding the Olds College Smart Farm, which, college officials say, uses cutting-edge technology to provide a hands-on learning environment for students.
That announcement was made last week at the college.
“I want to thank the Olds College for hosting us because this is the beginning of a very important relationship,” said UFA president and CEO Carol Kitchen.
“In the spirit of supporting innovation and technology for future leadership in agriculture I’m proud to announce that the United Farmers of Alberta UFA limited is happy to announce a $500,000 long-term relationship with Olds College today,” Kitchen said.
“This is a proud day for Olds College. I’ve been a longtime member of UFA -- I think my card says since 1992 -- and of course my family has been a member of UFA much, much longer than that,” Olds College president Stuart Cullum said.
“On behalf of Olds College, our students, our faculty, our staff, and our alumni, I’d like to thank the United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative for this generous gift.
“At Olds College, we believe that agriculture is a key industry to our country's success.
“Olds College is growing; we’re growing our programming, applied research and partnerships to create an innovative learning environment,” Cullum said.
