Assinboine Community College and the Enterprise Machine Intelligence Learning Initiative (EMILI) are looking to boost digital skills in the ag work force.
The college and industry-led non-profit will spend the next five years collaborating on projects “to advance the adoption of intelligent technologies and provide Manitobans with in-demand digital agriculture skills,” a Jan. 26 release read.
Possible programming coming out of the partnership includes digital literacy training, chances for work-integrated learning, farm-scale tests for new technology and dissemination of EMILI’s Innovation Farms data. The Innovation Farms project hosts applied research projects on a 5,500-acre commercial seed farm.
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“EMILI and ACC share a common vision of growing Manitoba’s digital agriculture sector through innovation and education, and I’m excited to see the impact we will have by working toward solutions together,” said EMILI managing director Jacqueline Keena.
In fall 2022, EMILI released its digital agriculture strategic roadmap. Education and experimental learning opportunities were both highlighted in that document. Both would be needed to realize the labour needs of a future ag sector, it concluded.
Both the college and non-profit have noted the increasing role of technology in agriculture and agribusiness labour. Those skills are among the most stressed points of ACC’s promise to expand ag and ag-related programming (relevant additions including the mechatronics program currently in development).
Increased need for technological skills, as well as more farm labour in general, has led to ACC’s promise of 800 student spaces (up from under 300 ag and ag-adjacent slots right now) and a new hub for those programs, dubbed the Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
The centre has drawn more than $16.5 million in private fundraising and recently received a commitment of up to $10 million from the province to help finalize plans for the estimated $75-million project.
“ACC is excited to collaborate with EMILI on vital applied research, education and training, and extension programs to advance agricultural technology,” said Tim Hore, dean of ACC’s Russ Edwards School of Agriculture and Environment.
“This partnership will help provide experiential learning opportunities for students using emerging technologies, and will help ensure that graduates obtain skills in areas like data analysis, robotics and automation. This partnership and the expanded programming proposed as part of our Prairie Innovation Centre will help fill this need,” he added.
