Conservation Learning Centre Inc.
The Conservation Learning Centre (CLC) is a non profit charity and a member of the AgriARM network. It demonstrates soil and water conservation technology on a farm scale and serves as a field laboratory for new agricultural research and technology. The CLC acts as a bridge between high level agricultural research and producers, by demonstrating practices that are of direct interest to local farmers.
Located on 439 acres south of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the CLC features diverse landscapes including rolling topography, wetlands, and native upland areas. It hosts a variety of public and privately funded projects on grain crops, fruit and vegetable crops, and forages. Unique features at the CLC include a 5 acre haskap orchard, a high tunnel for horticulture research, and surface and tile wetland drainage installations. The CLC also has access to certified organic land for demonstrations in collaboration with local producers.
The CLC hosts annual tours and meetings for producers, researchers, and industry representatives. It runs a free outdoor educational school program that provides hands-on learning for over 32,000 students since 1994.
Our Mission
The Saskatchewan Conservation Learning Centre Inc. (CLC) researches and demonstrates land management techniques which focus on the optimum utilization of the landscape for annual crops, forage and agroforestry production while employing appropriate soil and water conservation techniques and facilitating wildlife habitat enhancement.
Mandate
To provide information to farmers, public school students, researchers, extension workers, and the urban public in Saskatchewan’s Parkland region. The CLC will also facilitate interrelationships with all those interested in the objectives of the CLC, including the agriculture and agroforestry industry, policymakers, and the media.
Objectives
To encourage the corporate sector and interested organizations to promote sustainable agriculture practices. To provide a site where researchers, industry farmers, agroforesters, technology transfer personnel and the public can be brought together at one location.
To have the urban public become more aware of how farmers practice stewardship on their farms. To have the urban public become aware of how agriculture and wildlife can co-exist. To have them understand the role and importance of the agriculture supply industry in food production.
To provide researchers with a location to expand their plot research to field scale and/or landscape research. This will enable them to learn about and investigate applied research techniques, other research projects, new research needs and the role of industry in the agri-food sector.
To increase farmers’ awareness as to the importance of land management systems, which include both economic and environmental stewardship. To be a leader in identifying and demonstrating agricultural practices that emphasize sustainability. To have farmers adopt these practices on their own farms.
To increase awareness of the interaction of agriculture and the environment among public school students.
Board Members
Ryan Scragg
Chair/Producer
Prince Albert, SK
Garry Podbielski
Vice-Chair/Producer
Meath Park, SK
Sheldon Dowling
Director/Producer
Prince Albert, SK
Wes Boden
Director/Producer
Prince Albert, SK
Garth Beddome
Director/Producer
Prince Albert, SK
Meagen Reed
Director/UPL AgroSolutions Canada
Dafoe, SK
Sara Verge
Director/Lake Country Co-op
Prince Albert, SK
Cory Pearson
Director/Pearson Integrated Solutions
Aberdeen, SK
Larry Marshall
Director/Producer
Shellbrook, SK
Staff
Robin Lokken, MSc, AAg
General Manager
Zoe Galbraith, BSc
Assistant Manager
Rachael Groat, BCD
Community Outreach Coordinator
Aquielle Thorlakson, BSc
Research Associate
Dorothy Stewart
School Program Director
