Thanks to a recent $1.5 million gift from the RBC Foundation, the University of Manitoba will be playing a role in making farming more environmentally-sustainable and better suited for a net-zero economy.
The gift will enable 45 graduate and undergraduate students in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences to research and design innovative sustainable farming solutions, in areas such as fertilizer use, crossing crops with wild perennial cousins and identifying livestock that produce less methane.
The students will also lead conversations on the benefits of the new techniques.
“This gift not only creates more opportunities for our students to research low-emissions agriculture but also demonstrate their findings to thousands of producers and commodity groups through workshops, podcasts and industry events,” said Martin Scanlon, the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.
“With the pervasive concern of climate change in front of us, the RBC Foundation is helping our students develop innovative and practical solutions to support the transition to more sustainable food production methods.”
Scanlon points to fertilizer use and regenerative agriculture as some of the areas where “big ideas” could have a profound impact.
Ashley Ammeter, Robert Duncan, Mohamed Elhiti and Kenny So from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences discuss crop research at one of the university’s greenhouses. Perennial crops that lessen the need for cultivation are among the innovative farming solutions being explored with the support of the RBC Foundation. | University of Manitoba photo
“One example of a green job in regenerative agriculture is a perennial crop breeder,” said Scanlon. “A perennial crop breeder is a researcher who works to cross an annual crop with a wild perennial cousin to create a plant that does not require reseeding every year, which reduces ploughing and tillage while improving soil health.”
Livestock is another area whose innovations will play a role in low-emissions farming.
“The areas of livestock feed additives and selective breeding explore the use of feed additives to reduce emissions and improve animal health,” Scanlon said. “There is also a lot of potential in helping identify livestock that have better feed conversion and produce less methane.”
Agronomists, perennial crop breeders and animal nutritionists graduating from the University of Manitoba are just a few examples of the expertise to fit the green economy being enabled through the RBC Foundation’s commitment to helping build the talent pool needed for a net-zero economy.
Other RBC Foundation gifts to post-secondary institutions, which in total amount to more than $5 million, include supporting electric vehicle technician education at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, heritage building conservation at Algonquin College in Ottawa and the establishment of a new Bachelor of Sustainability and financial management program at the University of Waterloo.
“The energy transition is also a skills transition,” said Andrea Barrack, senior vice-president of Corporate Citizenship & ESG at RBC.
“Our journey to net-zero relies on the hands and minds of millions of Canadians and will take a concerted effort by those who train and hire the first generation of green economy workers.”
According to a report from RBC Thought Leadership and Economics, 3.1 million Canadian jobs will change over the next decade as the climate transition takes shape, and an anticipated 235,000 to 400,000 new jobs could be added in fields that will demand enhanced green skills. The report also anticipates that eight of 10 major economic sectors will be affected by the green skills shift.
