Olds College Smart Farm is celebrating five years and has grown to 3,600 acres for crop and forage production in six different geographic locations across two provinces, using state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
In June 2018, the Smart Farm started with 110 acres on a field south of the college and has expanded to include a 1,000-head capacity feedlot, a commercial cow/calf herd, a purebred Red Angus herd, and a sheep flock.
Dr. Joy Agnew, vice-president of research at the college, said Smart Farms are important for many reasons, including environmental sustainability, exploring new technologies, providing unbiased information to farmers and confronting climate change.
“A lot of the challenges are out of the control of farmers, which is why technology and data and good decision making are so important to try and mitigate those situations and mitigate those risks,” Agnew said.
“There is always going to be a need for food so we have to figure out how to deal with some of these factors that are outside of our control.”
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Figuring out ways to assist farmers as the global demand for food increases is definitely rewarding, she said.
“It’s a highly relevant and socially important issue that we as a Smart Farm is helping to address.”
Agnew said it’s also important to recognize the incredible work that Canadian farmers have already done when it comes to issues like using fertilizer efficiently, conservation tillage and more. The public should be aware of their efforts.
“Canadian farmers are already leading the way when it comes to environmental, sustainable, food production.”
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The Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network is one of the many projects developed by Olds College Smart Farm.
“There’s just a growing number of Smart Farms being established across Canada, and we’re happy to be leading them within the network to help apply synergies, and share lessons learned, and elevate the practice of smart farms and the work that they’re doing for the industry,” Agnew said.
Launched in 2021, the network includes Olds College Smart Farm, Lethbridge College; University of Saskatchewan Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, and Discovery Farm Langham, both near Saskatoon, Sask.; Lakeland College at Vermilion, AB; Manitoba Beef & Forage Initiatives Inc. near Brandon, Man.; and Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative located near Winnipeg.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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