On May 22, 2024, Olds College of Agriculture & Technology was pleased to welcome 29 ambassadors organized by Global Affairs Canada to tour the campus and Olds College Smart Farm to learn more about digital agriculture and technology.
The ambassadors came to visit Alberta from the following countries: Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lesotho, Malta, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Senegal, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam. Their Excellencies take an annual tour through one of the provinces, and Alberta was selected this year with the tour stop themes of energy, innovation and Indigenous engagement.
The honoured guests were welcomed to Olds and the campus before touring the Smart Farm by Todd Ormann, Vice President, Development. During the tour, they got an in-depth look at how programming and applied research activities are integrated into the Smart Farm to enhance both student-learning experiences and innovation for the agriculture industry. Their Excellencies loved their tour of Olds College, were super engaged and had lots of great questions.
“It’s so rewarding to host such an engaged audience from around the world to showcase the positive impacts our research activities, programming and work-integrated learning are having on Canada’s agriculture industry,” says Ormann. “At Olds College, we’ve created a vibrant learning ecosystem that fosters student and research success — and we’re always thrilled to showcase Western Canadian agriculture to ambassadors from around the world.”
Afterwards, the ambassadors toured the Werklund Agriculture and Technology Centre and also received a presentation on digital agriculture in the Smart Ag Innovation Centre (SAIC) by Felippe Hoffmann Silva Karp, Research Associate, Digital Agriculture, Olds College Centre for Innovation. During lunch, President Dr. Ben Cecil and Interim Board Chair Al Kemmre expressed their gratitude to Their Excellencies and honoured guests for visiting Olds College and were presented with a gift of thanks from the Ambassadors.
Thank you to Global Affairs Canada for helping gather such an engaged audience for a great day of engaging discussions and information sharing at Olds College.