Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation was in the Town of Olds last week for an important PrairiesCan investment announcement.
RJ Sigurdson was on the campus of Olds College of Agriculture & Technology on Wednesday, July 3rd as a total of $21 million dollars was doled out to benefit 14 different projects in Alberta.
$1.125 million dollars from the funding announcement will go to the Alberta Bio Processing Innovation Centre in Edmonton and the Alberta Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator in Leduc. Sigurdson says the Bio Processing Innovation Centre is Incubator for them as the government that allows small companies to be able to come in, it provides them with some space to help their feet underneath them.
Olds College of Agriculture & Technology is receiving over $3 million dollars from PrairiesCan to expand its Smart Farm operations into Saskatchewan and to purchase new equipment to increase capacity for applied research.
Sigurdson says the Smart Farm accelerates innovation and is really building such a strong agricultural industry here in the province of Alberta. He adds, there are a lot of exciting things happening, there is a lot of investment coming to our province, and Olds College and the Smart Farm is a big part of that.
Meanwhile, July is a very busy month for ag events in the province with the 2024 edition of the Stampede continuing in Calgary and Summer Synergy showcasing youth in agriculture this week on the Olds Regional Exhibition Grounds. Sigurdson says it keeps him moving and is a tell tale sign of how important agriculture is here in our province.
