24 - Prairie Post West - Friday, February 26, 2021
Lethbridge College and Farming Smarter team up to study ways to boost canola yields
CONTRIBUTED Southern Alberta canola producers stand to benefit from a joint research project by Lethbridge College and Farming Smarter. The project will study the effects of strip tillage and precision planting on canola crops. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) partly funds this three-year, Applied Research and Development (ARD) grant with $75,000 per year. The research aims to increase crop emergence and seed yield in canola un- der western Canadian climate conditions by using improved crop production prac- tices. Leading the research is Dr. Rezvan Karimi Dehkordi, research associate on the Mueller Applied Research in Irriga- tion Science team at Lethbridge College, and Farming Smarter research scientist Dr. Gurbir Dhillon. “With demand for canola expected to rise by 26 million metric tonnes by the year 2025 to meet growing market demand, this research can help producers looking to increase production,” says Karimi, who will coordinate and supervise all research ac- tivities and data collection. “Since we have
short, cold growing seasons, it’s important to properly prepare the seed bed so that seeds have a better chance to germinate.” Strip tillage prepares the field by tilling
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narrow strips for planting while leaving areas between the strips with undisturbed crop residue. Studies show this can re- duce soil erosion and soil compaction and improve soil quality. Precision planting is a method of seeding that involves placing seed at a precise spacing and depth with a precision planter. “Farming Smarter has had great suc- cess in adopting precision planters to seed various crops, including pulses, wheat and hemp,” explains Dhillon. “In this project, we will evaluate different types of tillage operations and seeding methods to manage previous crop residues and deter- mine if we can improve canola emergence and yield under both dryland and irrigat- ed conditions.” In 2020, Farming Smarter and Leth- bridge College formalized and expanded a long-running partnership in a 15-year collaboration agreement that committed the two partners to pursuing opportunities to support the entire agriculture indus- try in southern Alberta and throughout the province. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) partly funds this three-year project with a $75,000 per year grant. “We have worked with
Farming Smarter on a number of projects, but this is the first time we have secured joint funding from one of the Government of
Photo taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic Morton Molyneux.
planter in the background.
Canada’s Tri-Council funding agencies,” says Dr. Kenny Corscadden, Associate Vice President Research, Innovation and Entre- preneurship. Ken Coles, Farming Smarter’s Executive
Director, adds: "Partnerships are one of our core values and it’s through relation- ships like the one we’ve developed with Lethbridge College that we can deliver real solutions to our clients. We look forward to working with them on this project to develop best practices for canola farmers in southern Alberta.” Farming Smarter exists to develop and disseminate scientifically sound, unbiased research and information to assist spe- cialists and farmers adopt technologies to increase the profitability and sustainability of all innovative and progressive grain, for- age, special crops and livestock producers in southern Alberta. Agriculture research teams at Lethbridge College operate under the Integrated Agriculture Technology Centre (IATC). The
GLOBE NEWSWIRE The Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) an- nounced Feb. 18 that the grain sector is embarking on a major campaign to raise awareness and seek solutions for outdated and problematic marine port governance rules. “We are working in a port oversight system that simply lacks proper checks and balances, in contrast to what we have in rail or air transportation where there are tools available to hold people accountable for decisions,” said Wade Sobkowich, Executive Director of the WGEA. “With marine ports, we have no recourse to an adequate appeal mechanism, no outside dispute resolution, no indepen- dent complaint process, and no effective input to Director nominations – the federal government needs to address these shortcomings in the Port Modernization Review.” Over the last couple of years, port terminal operators like the grain elevators have experienced some decisions that are unjustified and lack a deeper level of transparen- cy necessary to hold decision makers accountable. Double digit annual rent increases, large but sometimes unsub- stantiated ‘improvement fees’, and questionable priority
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IATC connects small- and medium-sized enterprises in the agriculture industry with the technologies and research exper- tise at Lethbridge College to enhance their productivity, competitiveness and innova- tion results.
Lethbridge College’s Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneur- ship is a catalyst for economic growth, sustainability and social development in the region. It brings together researchers, community organizations and students to collaborate on projects that use new or existing knowledge to solve real-world challenges with immediate practical appli- cations. Research Infosource ranked Le- thbridge College has one of Canada’s fast- est-growing research colleges while earning its highest ever placement in 2020’s annual ranking of Canada’s top 50 research col- leges. The college placed 26th on the top 50 list released by Research Infosource and ranked third in research income growth.
Grain sector appeals to Government to modernize Port Governance setting on infrastructure spending are areas of concern. The dual role of Canadian port authorities as developer and regulator also places them in an apparent conflict of interest, which is something that the government should be looking at carefully. Lastly, as the federal government’s representative for port lands and operations, port author- ities need to reconsider their role to help remove duplica- tive or overly restrictive sub-federal government regula- tions on port terminal operators. “The Government of Canada needs to act on the major clean-up of marine port governance that was recommend- ed during the review of the Canadian Transportation Act back in 2016-17,” continued Sobkowich, “This is having a large negative effect on our ability to unlock existing capacity and to grow the agri-food export sector.” The WGEA is an association of grain businesses operat- ing in Canada which collectively handle in excess of 90% of western Canada’s bulk grain exports. For more infor- mation, see the WGEA’s port issues overview found here:
www.wgea.ca
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