Sask. Polytech offers first ag program in Moose Jaw

Saskatchewan Polytechnic has announced its first agriculture diploma, to be offered in 2022 at the Moose Jaw campus.

The three-year diploma is expected to include classes involving farm management, agriculture machinery, agriculture technology, crop production and livestock production.

“We really looked at what will the skilled labour force need to be able to ensure that this particular economic sector, specifically within Saskatchewan, has a skilled labour force to meet these ongoing challenges to ensure that the agricultural industry is successful, and continues to be an economic driver within Saskatchewan specifically, but Western Canada as a whole,” said Jamie Hilts, the Dean of Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

Hilts said classroom courses include arts, biology or other sciences, agribusiness, communications, and the history of agriculture, among others.

For more hands-on classes, Hilts said students will learn about soils, agronomy, entomology, beekeeping, and take technical classes where they will learn about and run farm machinery.

“Students will actually have seat time where they’ll actually be able to operate pieces of equipment, be it a tractor, be it a sprayer, be it a combine,” Hilts said. “They’ll actually have a number of hours at our outdoor lab that will give students opportunity to become comfortable, confident and safe in terms of being able to operate a piece of equipment.

“We do realize that some students that come into the program will not have grown up on a farm or a small rural community or have that kind of exposure. We are hoping that students from urban settings also want to participate. It gives them a chance to become familiar with that operation.”

Bryan Sarauer has been hired to teach the Agriculture and Food Production diploma. Previously, Sarauer taught in the bioscience program at the Sask. Polytech program in Saskatoon, but he said he jumped at the opportunity to teach in the agriculture program.

“I get really excited about both the opportunities and the future of agriculture,” Sarauer said. “And just being able to talk about things like ecology and science from a really applied agricultural point of view is pretty exciting to me. So I get to share that with students and get to share some of that passion.”

Sarauer will teach classes such as entomology, chemistry, and the biology side of agriculture.

He said this program is a long time coming.

“It’s a made-in-Saskatchewan solution. There are diploma programs (in) other provinces in particular and we see some of our Saskatchewan students going away to other provinces to get what they haven’t been able to get here until now. So it allows people to stay closer to home.”