City hall has added a second tenant to the Agri-Food Industrial Park, as Saskatchewan Polytechnic will use nearly 30 acres during the next decade for a new ag-focused diploma program.
City council unanimously approved a motion during its Feb. 14 regular meeting to sign a lease agreement with Sask. Polytech for its agriculture and food production diploma program that begins in September. The institution will use about 29 acres in the industrial park for $1 per year for the first five years and $160 per acre per year for the following five years.
This means the educational institute will pay $5 during the first half-decade and $23,200 during the second half-decade.
Sask. Polytech is an important corporate client and valuable educational institution with a long history in Moose Jaw, said city manager Jim Puffalt.
“It’s exciting to have new programs being established (here). We’re glad to give a little bit of a hand to make this happen,” he added.
City hall’s economic development team works closely with Sask. Polytech to find opportunities to support economic and educational growth, said Jim Dixon, economic development manager. City administration identified a parcel of land adjacent to the lagoons that meets the college’s needs and is generating crop production and revenue.
The industrial park’s vision is to attract value-added agriculture opportunities, while a component of manufacturing and food processing is an educational applied studies program like this, he continued. About 30 students have registered for the program, while the course holds 36 pupils.
“The learning lab would be located in the heart of the (Moose Jaw Agri-Food Industrial Park, MJAFIP), facilitating excellent applied learning opportunities for students … ,” Dixon remarked. “The servicing of this (proposed) area of the MJAFIP is not planned for the foreseeable future and is unlikely for other development due to its size and location.”
Some benefits to the city from this agreement include:
- It supports the municipality’s vision of having an agri-food focus that an applied learning and research component would support
- Expansion of Moose Jaw’s Sask. Polytech campus programming creates additional jobs and ensures instructors live and work here
- Revenues from farmland use during years five to 10 of the lease will continue while the land continues to assist the college with its program
- Aids the regional economy through education and work-term opportunities
- The program attracts new students who could contribute to the economy
- Program expansion also supports the growth of courses, instructors and students
“The Moose Jaw Agri-Food Industrial Park is an integral component of the city’s alignment for the provincial growth plan,” added Dixon. “The city’s updated Community Strategic Plan (also) identifies that new opportunities, actions and tactics are required in order to successfully advance the community in the future.”
Coun. Heather Eby thanked the campus administrators for pushing to have this program in Moose Jaw. She noted that the community is sometimes passed over for such programs, so this course is a perfect fit for the Agri-Food Industrial Park. The course also complements the $12-million renovations the college has made in Moose Jaw.
“It’s all-around good news … . We know this is an industry that is going places again, and it’s really exciting,” Eby added.
This program is exciting in many ways, not only with economic development but through applied learning, research, and land management, said Coun. Crystal Froese. Furthermore, students will have work placements on farms in the region and provincially.
“This just fits in (really well) with our industrial park … ,” she added. “It will be very exciting to see this program come to our city.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 28.
