College returns to the furrow for Open Farm Days

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 16, 2022.

Herald photo by Ry Clarke Scott Cameron helps son Merric up on a tractor while daughter Selene peers into the cab at Lethbridge College's Open Farm Days on Saturday at the college's research farm east of the city.

Lethbridge College held its first Open Farm Day this weekend inviting the public to attend its Research Farm east of the city.

The event gave people an up-close look at the college’s farm-operations and learning about the agricultural research conducted at the facility with a chance to talk to researchers about their ongoing projects.

“This is a province-wide initiative. It’s the 10th anniversary of Open Farm Days in Alberta. But it’s the first time Lethbridge College is participating. This is our second field season that we’ve been running our research farm. Last year, we were unable to host a farm day because we were still just getting set up and there were still issues regarding COVID for events. So, this is our first year participating in Open Farm Days,” said Megan Shapka, director of Applied Research Operations at Lethbridge College.

“We’ve set up quite a bit of our equipment that we use on the farm to run our various projects. People get to come and interact with the machinery that digs up the potatoes, that takes up the sugar beets, and cuts down the canola. They get to see that up close and hands on. Kids are going to enjoy climbing on it all, we’ve got some games setup, and a lot of fun activities. But most importantly, we want to show off the actual research sites,” added Shapka.

People had the opportunity to check out the research farm’s features like learning about irrigation science and how it works with a demo canal giving a visual experience for learners.

“One of the highlights of this side of the farm is our irrigation demonstration canal. It’s a small scale, demo site of what irrigation is and how it works. Most people won’t get to see that elsewhere, because it’s all on private property,” said Shapka. “We have our Irrigation Science Research team presenting on how irrigation works, and then the irrigated projects that we have running on the farm. Plus, there is also our Advanced Post Harvest Technology team here to present on our grain bin drying site.”

People at the event had the opportunity to explore the site and take a chance to stop in to see what goes on.

“We have driven by and I didn’t understand what they were doing. Now you can have a chance to get hands on or ask questions and find all sorts of things,” said Eileen Leith, patron of the College’s farm day, noting the irrigation demo. “The whole water coming down and what they’re trying to prevent with erosion and all these certain things is interesting. Plus, how they measure how much water is going through. This is all very important. It gives you a good chance to see what goes on when you can’t see it normally.”

“We certainly hope to be able to participate in this every year. There’s around 5 or 6 sites close to Lethbridge, other farms participating. It’s exciting to be one of those on that tour route and cross promote what everyone else is doing. You could make a full day out of your Open Farm Days experience if you hop from site to site,” said Shapka, hoping others gain new experiences and continue to show support in southern Alberta’s agricultural industry. “It’s really about building awareness. That we’re here and what we’re doing with this type of work. Really contributing to our local community, they’re going to get to meet our researchers interact with the projects, tour through the farm, and just really see it in action.”

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