The governments of Canada and Manitoba will invest nearly $400,000 in ten research projects expected to provide practical, on-farm benefits to producers, Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler announced today.
The Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI) is one of the funded organizations and will receive $288,400 to conduct six research projects focused on:
- airflow in large grain storage bins
- guidelines and tools for consolidating on-farm surface water;
- improving efficiency for soybean harvest;
- comparing canola harvest methods;
- hemp harvesting for use in fibre processing; and
- flax fibre harvesting.
Projects are funded under Growing Forward 2's Growing Innovation – On Farm, which evaluates and demonstrates new agricultural practices or technologies at the farm level. The research must benefit individual producers, communities or the agricultural industry by increasing productivity, introducing new crops or products, refining agricultural management practices or introducing improved production techniques.
Other funded projects include:
- $50,000 to evaluate smart hive technology to improve hive health, disease surveillance and traceability (Durston Honey Farms Ltd.);
- $15,745 to study how crop harrowing can improve weed control in organic hemp production and organic transition periods (Scott Beaton);
- $20,970 to develop a test for Staphylococcus aureus in raw milk (Horizon Lab Ltd.); and
- $23,900 to study nitrogen management for high-yielding wheat varieties (Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association).
The federal and provincial governments are investing $176 million in cost-shared programming in Manitoba under Growing Forward 2, a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial policy framework to advance the agriculture industry, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets. For more information about Growing Innovation, go to Growing Forward 2 (Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development).
Source : Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada