Vermillion Growers and Assiniboine Community College Sign Memorandum of Understanding
October 25, 2020
In our Blog, we often refer to our tagline of Growing Food, Growing People, and Growing Communities. Today we have the privilege of sharing the marriage of all three in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Brandon, Manitoba’s Assiniboine Community College (ACC). Brandon is a vibrant city about as far south from us in Dauphin as it is west of Winnipeg, a locale we are happy to consider part of our community. This MOU benefits us greatly in two ways - research, and an expert addition to our advisory board.
Research is vital to every industry, and the organizations which conduct research are the leaders in their own industry. At Vermillion Growers, we are proud to already have the expertise from existing state of the art glass greenhouses, similar to our project in Dauphin, guiding us to success. Complementing the guidance and contributing to our success will be local research.
Heading up that research is Vermillion Growers Advisory Board Member, Dr. Poonam Singh, BSc, MSc, PhD. Dr. Singh, Faculty at ACC, is working in an area quite unique to our industry at ACC: Applied Research. This means the research goes beyond the academic classroom and into the greenhouse! Working within ACC’s own greenhouse, Dr. Singh will be researching how additional oxygen in the rootzone can affect plants’ efficiency and productivity, and how pest management can be further utilized to improve plant health and maximize yield.
Dr. Singh is passionate about local food and contributing toward the success of businesses such as Vermillion Growers. “I have seen the greenhouses in the Netherlands, British Columbia, and Ontario,” Dr. Singh says, “and local research is important because of environmental differences.”
The MOU means Vermillion Growers has direct access not only to the experience and expertise of Dr. Singh, but her active and continuing applied research as well. As we continue build and growth, we will be happy to share more about the relationship we have forged, and the contribution to our success.
For further information on Dr. Poonam Singh, please visit https://assiniboine.net/commun