Ag College Awarded $5 million from CFI for Research Equipment and Facilities

Posted June 23, 1999


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ? Wednesday, June 23/1999
99-06-09-AG

Ag College Awarded $5 million from CFI for Research Equipment and
Facilities

The University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture will get $5 million
towards a $15.6-million infrastructure project for applied biotechnology
research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced today.

"This money will really help us maintain our leadership in all aspects of
agricultural education and research in Canada," said Agriculture Dean John
Stewart.

The $15.6-million project will provide new or updated facilities and
equipment for the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, the Department
of Applied Microbiology and Food Science, and a pilot plant associated with
food science research. It will also upgrade plant growth facilities for the
Department of Plant Sciences.

The project includes a sixth-floor addition to the College, a project that
is already under construction. A sixth floor was planned when the building
was started in 1991 and since then, $9.3 million has come from alumni and
the private sector to complete the building. The Department of Animal and
Poultry Science will move to the sixth floor from an antiquated building
erected in the 1940s.

"The CFI money will help us buy the equipment to fully equip the new
addition on the sixth floor of the College and to upgrade our plant growth
facilities, both at the horticulture greenhouse near Innovation Place and at
the Phytotron (plant growth chambers) in the lower level of the College,"
Dean Stewart said.

"It also strengthens our new initiatives such as the AFIF (Agr-Food
Innovation Fund) chairs in agriculture biotechnology and food science."

AFIF is a Canada-Saskatchewan agreement to manage funds committed to
producers under the old GRIP (Gross Revenue Insurance Program) program.
AFIF, in addition to supplying funding for personnel, has contributed
$690,800 for new equipment as part of the $15.6-million project.

The College was awarded all but $546,000 of the CFI funding it requested.
The College will now either adjust aspects to the project and/or seek other
funds to meet the shortfall, the dean said.

Construction on the sixth floor addition is expected to be completed by the
fall of 2000.

The College of Agriculture project is one of 45 projects to receive CFI
funds in the Institutional Innovation Fund category that is for projects
valued at more than $350,000. A total of $210 million was awarded under
this category and announced today.

The CFI is an independently administered fund set up by the federal
government to modernize research facilities and equipment at Canadian
universities and other research institutions.


For more information, contact:
Dean John Stewart
College of Agriculture
(306) 966-4065

Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
Office of the Vice-President Research
(306) 966-2506
Visit our Research web site at: www.usask.ca/research