Funding boost for sweet potato research
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/03/2021 (1678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Thanks to a new $25,000 funding grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, a multi-year Assiniboine Community College research project can now move into commercial production.
A Tuesday news release from ACC revealed that local researcher Sajjad Rao started this project back in 2015 in an attempt to find a strain of sweet potato that can survive Manitoba’s harsh growing season.
“This (latest) funding will enhance local production capacity for propagating sweet potato planting material, known as slips, through improved greenhouse systems,” Rao stated in Tuesday’s release.
“This project will transfer an efficient, affordable and scientifically proven greenhouse production system for propagating sweet potato slips to a commercial seed supplier.”
Rao went on to say that this research is particularly warranted now that market and industry demand for sweet potatoes has grown in recent years, making this a crop of interest to many Canadian growers.
“Most consumer supply is currently imported from the United States, so there is a market need for Canadian produced sweet potato slips for commercial growers,” he said.
“There is significant potential to offset imports and support industry expansion, but this is contingent upon the local availability of slips for Manitoba growers. Limited research of energy-intensive greenhouse production of sweet potato slips has been conducted in Canada.”
Communications specialist Anya McNabb later told the Sun that ACC has already engaged with an industry partner for the commercial production phase of this research project, which will hopefully take place on the college’s North Hill campus.
» The Brandon Sun