The Prairie Innovation Centre, Assiniboine Community College’s (ACC’s) future home of ag programming, has added D&B Sprinklers to its list of private backers.
The Brandon-based company has committed $25,000 to the multimillion-dollar project, the college announced Feb. 2.
Why it matters: Post-secondary ag education is slated for a major expansion in western Manitoba with the incoming Assiniboine Community College Prairie Innovation Centre.
“D&B Sprinklers has been working throughout southwestern Manitoba since 1981,” company owner Jeff Fawcett said. “We have recognized agriculture as being the main driver of our economy. The Prairie Innovation Centre will help to grow and enhance our region’s most important industry.”
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Slated to revamp an existing building on ACC’s North Hill Campus, the centre is expected to be the new hub for ag and ag-adjacent programs as well as applied research and is expected to almost triple agriculture spaces at the Brandon college. When complete, ACC has said that student spaces will increase from 300 to 800.
- Read more: ACC ag education hub $500,000 closer to breaking ground
- Read more: Crop Alliance commits $100,000 to Prairie Innovation Centre
The finished centre will host ACC’s existing agribusiness and natural resource management programming, along with ag-related technology programs.
Tim Hore, dean of ACC’s school of agriculture and environment, has touted the project’s potential for novel technical training and innovative technological advancement, things he argues will be critical to address increasing skilled labour needs in Manitoba’s ag sector.
“The traditional approach to food and the food industry is really undergoing fundamental transformation,” Hore said during a press event in December 2021. “When I say fundamental transformation, I talk about (how) we’re going to be producing food differently. We’re going to be using new technology and new techniques. We’re going to really take these new technologies to take food production to consumers, and that innovation is really going to ensure that we continue to produce those products efficiently and environmentally sustainably.”
The college has also pitched the project as a step forward in addressing agriculture’s labour woes.
A 2019 labour forecast update from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council estimated that the ag labour gap sat at 63,000 jobs, and had the potential to rise to 123,000 jobs by 2029.
Total cost for the centre has been estimated at $65 million, with $15 million to come from private fundraising.
The campaign for the centre publicly kicked off in 2020, and fundraising efforts had eclipsed $10 million by late 2021.
No start date has been announced for construction.
