The provincial government created the Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) committee to direct Alberta's agriculture research in a way that would help farmers, researchers, and the agriculture industry as a whole.
Made up of people in the agriculture industry, RDAR will determine research priorities instead of having the government dictate these choices. Currently, the group is building a framework to manage a $37 million grant and set research priorities for funding in the province.
When asked how this organization will impact Farming Smarter and FarmRite, Ken Coles, Executive Director of Farming Smarter, said "It definitely affects what we do, whether we have a core grant or not, whether we have the ability to compete for research funds, and whether extension and knowledge transfer receives funds." Coles says this is a pretty fundamental change within the whole agriculture research landscape and believes it has the potential to be better than the previous system that was in place, as long as RDAR is transparent and engages with as many stakeholders as possible.
To learn more about the organization, who is on the interim board and the timeline for finalizing the board, head to the RDAR page.