Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will benefit from a $3.3 Million investment from WGRF.
The money will be used to upgrade field equipment and the enhancement of phenomics capacity.
WGRF Board Chair Dr. Keith Degenhardt says under WGRF’s Capacity Initiative, there's an opportunity to continue working with AAFC and improve some of the equipment needed for field research.
“AAFC is matching the $3.3 million dollar investment by WGRF, Prairie farmers will see the results of this investment through improved crop productivity and resource use efficiency.”
The equipment purchases will be made at a number of sites including Swift Current, Saskatoon, Indian Head, Brandon, Morden, Portage la Prairie, Lethbridge and Lacombe.
The equipment being purchased includes multiple plot seeders, combines, sprayers, swathers, irrigation equipment as well as field-based phenotyping equipment allowing for the automated measurement of plant characteristics such as height, nitrogen content, photosynthesis and other qualitative plant growth characteristics. The combination of equipment will benefit both variety development and agronomy research.
Garth Patterson, WGRF Executive Director says to maintain scientific advances at the rate required by today’s producers, it’s important for prairie-based researchers to have the tools they need to stay ahead of the curve.
In total, twenty-four Phase 2 Capacity Initiative applications were approved by WGRF.
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