The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) out of Portage la Prairie is receiving over $280,000 in government funding for six research projects.
The funding, which is part of a recently announced investment through Growing Forward Two, will focus on projects focusing on areas such as airflow in large grain storage bins and hemp harvesting for use in fibre processing.
PAMI's vice president of Manitoba operations, Harvey Chorney, says this funding is huge for them.
"It allows us to work on projects we feel are very important to agriculture and get information that will help our farmers be more profitable," he says.
When it comes to the project on hemp research, Chorney says hemp is a very interesting crop in Manitoba, as hemp seed has become quite profitable, while also producing huge stalks containing interesting properties and fibres. However while interest in processing this fibre may be increasing, Chorney says it's still quite difficult to harvest hemp fibre in a way processors can handle it.
Source : Portageonline