On Thursday, the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre held the grand opening of a new facility at the Glenlea Research Station. This Sunday, it will be open to the public for free.
The new centre, called the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba Discovery and Learning Complex, was funded through a nearly $2.2 million contribution from the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba and the $1.4 million Growing Forward 2 Growing Innovation – Capacity and Knowledge Development Initiative, which involved a partnership between the federal and provincial government.
The complex features robotic milking and feeding systems for cattle, milk collection storage and a free-stall setting for researchers to manage animals.
The facility will be open to visitors for this year’s open farm day on Sept. 16. The event is a province-wide initiative that invites visitors to check out local farmers, ranchers and market gardeners and get the chance to watch the process of food production first-hand. The Discovery Centre’s open farm day will include a tour of the centre. Booths will be set up throughout the farm as well, and Manitoba farmers will be around the facility and farm to answer questions.
A host of virtual interactive platforms will also be open, including a 360o virtual reality system that lets visitors explore thirteen different types of crop and animal farms.
The Discovery Centre manager, Myrna Grahn, said the day is a chance for anyone interested in local food production to visit the centre. It is an especially popular event — last year, open farm day brought 730 people to the Discovery Centre.
“Our tractor and trolley will be going around taking them to all the different places — which is not what normally happens on a weekend or during the week when we are open because we don’t have staff in all those places,” she said.
“So it’s kind of a unique opportunity to truly open farm day to get into all the parts of our farm here at Glenlea.”
Grahn added that new exhibits are brought into the Discovery Centre yearly.
“We have a new entomology [exhibit]. We have a live beehive [where] bees can come and go from the building, so that’s new and people are quite interested in that,” she said. “We also have, today, a brand-new chicken exhibit that’s going in. We have a new pork exhibit.”
Open farm day may even include an especially rare treat — some pigs at the centre are expecting piglets and are likely to give birth over the weekend.
Exhibit coordinator Harley Siemens said open farm day at the Discovery Centre is an opportunity for people to get a feel of what goes on at Manitoba farms.
“It’s very tough to get lots of people into actual barns because of biosecurity measures,” Siemens said.
“We want to make sure that we don’t spread disease or anything like that because it’s a lot of people. So, this is the perfect place to come to here, the Farm and Food Discovery Centre, to have people come here, get a little sneak peek but not have to go through all those measures.”
Siemens added that the introduction of virtual reality and other new technology to the centre is a relatively new feature, and he hoped that the use of interactive innovation would take the exhibits to a new level.
“I’m trying to bring technology and get people to feel like they’re [on the farm],” he said.
If high-tech gadgets are not your forte, fear not. There will be many hands-on exhibits for visitors to choose from as well, including a spot where you can make your own ice cream.
The U of M will open its Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre in Glenlea, Man. to the public for Open Farm Day on Sept. 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
