Agricultural Research Farm & Controlled Environment Centre

Agricultural Research Farm Details

Our crop production research farm sits on 600 acres on the western outskirts of Vegreville where we investigate agricultural techniques, methods, applications, and technologies on crops such as cereals, canola, cannabis/hemp, flax, native plants, and several other specialty crops.  

Every summer up to 3,000 individual agricultural plots are grown and harvested on our farm. The type of research we engage in includes herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, efficacy and crop tolerance testing, regional varietal development and breeding, fertilizer, soil amendments, and cropping system evaluations with plant breeders and companies from around the world.    

We have a wealth of both commercial and specialized plot research equipment ranging from custom seeders, swathers, combines, shrouded plot sprayers, tractors to a commercial combine, swather, baler, etc as well as irrigation systems and specialized equipment for pesticide research.  In addition, we have a large indoor seed processing area complete with air handlers, confined handling rooms, and unique seed sorting and seed cleaning equipment. 

Research Greenhouses

Our greenhouse facility consists of 3 large greenhouse ranges divided into 18 research-sized compartments with supplemental high-pressure sodium lighting, temperature-controlled louvers, heating, and cooling functions as well as optional specialized irrigation/fertigation systems. We have an adjoining header house with a large planting/processing area, field lab, pot washing, and confined root washing station. 

This enables us to test agricultural, greenhouse, specialty, cannabis, and native plant crops inside of controlled greenhouses year-round and eliminates the constraints and variability of our unpredictable growing season. Using indoor cultivation and hydroponic methods, we are able to have far more control over temperature, water, fertilizer, disease, and pest prevention strategies.  This ensures that the dependant variables in our experiments are in fact treatment-specific and not due to other uncontrollable factors. Our greenhouse area has facility licensures and security for both cannabis and plant pest containment (CFIA PPC-1).  

Facility use programs include: 

• Material sourcing, setup, and planting 
• Customized grow media 
• Customized irrigation/fertigation 
• Regular monitoring and maintenance  
• Plant pathology and crop physiology 
• Pest control 
• Harvesting and data collection 
• Data analysis 

Controlled Environment Growth Chambers

InnoTech Alberta is home to 36 Conviron controlled environment growth chambers with variable upgraded lighting, temperature, carbon dioxide, and humidity controls including a cold growth chamber capable of –15 °C. We have a select few that are further equipped with enhanced security, metal gated doors, and alarms necessary for controlled substance propagation. Our growth chamber area has facility licensures and security for both cannabis and plant pest containment (CFIA PPC-1). 

Facility use programs include: 

• Material sourcing, setup, and planting 
• Regular monitoring and maintenance  
• Plant pathology and crop physiology 
• Pest control 
• Harvesting and data collection 
• Data analysis