Manitoba’s crop diversification centres are getting a financial boost from two of the province’s main producer groups.
The Manitoba Crop Alliance, which represents wheat, sunflower, flax, barley and corn growers, and the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers have announced $691,591 will go to the four centres.
They include the Manitoba Crop Diversification Centre near Carberry, Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation near Roblin, Prairie East Sustainable Agriculture Initiative near Arborg and the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization at Melita.
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The non-profit facilities focus on applied research projects and demonstrations and they host crop variety trials. Novel farm practices such as intercrop mixes, emerging farm practices and technology all get trial runs at the four sites.
The MCA and MPSG said the funding will expand research capacity in the province.
“The diversification centres conduct crucial, applied research on behalf of our farmer members, and their locations across the province ensure that regional differences in soil and climate can be studied,” said Katherine Stanley, MCA research program manager for special crops, in a Nov. 19 release.
Cassandra Tkachuk, research project manager with the MPSG, added that, “each diversification centre has a capable team that we believe in and rely on each year to carry out mainstay projects and to be agile in accommodating new research.”
The commodity groups also noted a recent MCA study that flagged lack of equipment, infrastructure and land, funding programs and human resources as barriers to research capacity in the province.
Gary Barker, chair of the Melita diversification centre, welcomed the funds.
“Purchases will help WADO with building capacity efficiencies, reduce risk from wildlife losses, and assist with monitoring greenhouse gases in future projects,” he said in the same release.
