Parkland College awarded $200,000 research grant

Parkland College has been awarded a $200,000 research grant by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The Innovation Enhancement grant is designated for improvements at the research farm just south of Yorkton, which the College operates in partnership with the East Central Research Foundation (ECRF).

NSERC announced funding last week for 128 new applied research projects at colleges, CÉGEPs, and polytechnics across Canada. The projects focus on priority areas such as agriculture, clean energy, and artificial intelligence.

Parkland College and ECRF will use the NSERC funding primarily to hire students for work integrated learning opportunities at the research farm. The students will assist researchers in their work during the growing season. The funding will be also be used to purchase farm equipment and video equipment used to share the results of research projects at www.ecrf.ca.

This season, researchers are conducting a number of trials and demonstration projects on land supplied by the City of Yorkton. Some of these projects are supported by the provincial government Agriculture Demonstration of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) program, with others sponsored by businesses in the agriculture industry.