The Parkland College and the East Central Research Foundation (ECRF) are exploring new ground. They have entered into a partnership to create a research farm, and recently hosted a field day to show what they have been working on.
Several projects are being conducted on the farm. Researchers are testing new canola varieties from Monsanto, conducting trials on North Star Genetics varieties of shorter-maturity soybeans, and running demonstrations on grasses and legumes with Saskatchewan Agriculture. Dutch Openers AirGuard seed brakes are also being tested for improved seed and fertilizer placement.
Gwen Machnee, Coordinator of University Programs and Applied Research for Parkland College says that the research farm is new territory.
"This is a first for any regional college in Saskatchewan, no college has done any applied research and so we chose this year to start research projects and agriculture was our first choice. This partnership with East Central Research Foundation has been just incredible."
The project is a true partnership, Machnee says, with the college providing plot design and experimental design, while the ECRF provided the equipment to get the work done.
"It would be really to get into agriculture from nothing without their assistance," Machnee adds.
The project has a wide range of benefits for students and instructors. The instructors stay involved in the industry, and the students get experience and see research in action.
"It's a great opportunity to expand what the college does, to add what we can to the local industry - a lot of our local industry is agriculture - and to try to improve things for local farmers. The fact that the college can be involved in that is one of our main mandates, is to serve our regional economic developments.
Glenn Blakley, Chairman of the ECRF, says that it makes sense to have a research project like this in the Yorkton region.
"Yorkton being a very central location, it's a great place to have a project like this so producers in the area can have access to the information that they can use on their own farm. The mandate for the ECRF is to help producers on their farm with the production of grains and oilseeds."
Blakley says that while a new site always is always challenging, the project has gone well and the people behind it have done a good job getting it put together.
The college sees this as a good start to more research projects in the future. Machnee says that it has already became bigger than anticipated, with four projects being handled in the first year.
