Reaping the Benefits of the Student-Managed Farm Powered by New Holland

Lakeland College’s Student-Managed Farm (SMF) – Powered by New Holland, is about more than the crops grown, the fields tilled and the revenue generated from its harvest. It’s about the lessons learned along the way.

Lakeland College is the only post-secondary institution in Canada where students manage the commercial-sized crop, bison, beef, dairy and equine enterprises. Since 2011, New Holland has partnered with the college to provide the latest equipment for the SMF, which is based at the Vermilion campus in eastern Alberta. New Holland high-horsepower tractors with precision farming technology, P2075 precision drill with a P4580 air cart and a CR9.90 combine with IntelliSense™ automation are used by the students for crop production. New Holland donates the use of the equipment to Lakeland, and Webb’s Machinery, the New Holland dealership in Vermilion, is instrumental in providing training and support. 

Building a team
Crop technology students participating in the 2023 SMF included Assistant General Manager Emily Creusot from Oxbow, Saskatchewan, and Analysis Manager Kristin Sardoff from Wainwright, Alberta. Both Creusot and Sardoff were drawn to Lakeland and the crop technology program by the opportunity to leave their family farms and get some hands-on experience. 

During the second year of the crop technology and animal science technology programs, students work together to manage commercial-sized crop, bison, beef, dairy and equine enterprises. Each SMF unit meets weekly and works together to set goals, make decisions and do hands-on work with the goal of running a profitable and sustainable agribusiness.

“I came to Lakeland because of the SMF,” explains Creusot. “I wanted that hands-on learning to build my confidence. In SMF, you grow that confidence because you’re not just reading from a textbook. You actually get to go out and apply what you’re learning.”

One of the biggest lessons learned was how to harness the chaos of their classmates, all with varying agricultural experience, into a cohesive and effective team.

“You have to form a team out of 36 strongly opinionated students and bring them together to get things done,” Creusot says. “Once everyone knew what to do and where to go, everything went smoothly. Everyone was really helpful and eager to be out there.”

Harvest time
During last year’s harvest, the crop SMF unit navigated  a few hurdles, like dealing with crop damage from hail over the summer. They debated the merits of straight cutting versus swathing, what to spray on the crop when some of it was green, some ready for harvest and other parts were flowering.

“There were issues beyond our control,” Creusot says. “Weather, hail damage and waiting for the crop to mature dragged harvest out longer.” 

Sardoff, as analysis manager, dealt with emerging issues when temperatures rose in the grain bins storing the canola. She and the team cycled the crop, moved it to  a new bin, turned on the air and did everything they could to bring the temperature down, celebrating when it successfully dropped to single Celsius digits.

The students operated the CR9.90 combine and grain cart throughout the harvest. At the end of the day, they successfully harvested the crop and collected data to help with their decision-making process.

Real-world experience
Dealing with these real-world scenarios is a huge benefit of the SMF. They undergo an interview process their peers handle to choose the leadership roles. The SMF students work together to make all decisions.

Assistant Manager Creusot was involved in marketing the grain, going to the elevators and sourcing the seed, fertilizer and pesticides. Sardoff has taken advantage of learning how to fill out insurance claims and other pieces of the business side she may not be involved in on her family’s farming operation. They’ve both had the opportunity to learn about aspects of agriculture they never would have experienced before the SMF, including opportunities to be more experimental.

2024 harvest
The SMF group experimented with faba beans and will be harvesting 1,050 acres of faba beans, yellow peas, wheat, malt barley and canola this year. Faba beans are a risk because they typically need a longer growing season, Creusot says, adding that they’ve found a variety that should work. She’s excited to see how it goes when the crop is harvested this fall. 

“That’s just one of the bonuses to SMF,” Creusot says. “You can try things out to see what happens.”

Faculty support
Faculty advisors on the SMF are there to support and guide students, but the decisions ultimately belong to the students.

“Our advisors typically will never say no to us when we are making a decision,” Sardoff says. “They do ask us questions to make us think the decision through.” 

Students research their decision, creating proposals to prove their decision is sound.

“They don’t shut us down as long as we have evidence to support what we want to do, how we should do it and hopefully, how it will play out,” Creusot adds. 

“I’ve gained a lot more from SMF than I was expecting coming into it,” Creusot says. “Coming here puts you ahead of everyone else, especially for your future career. It’s pretty awesome to be involved in an industry that cares so much.  It all goes back to farmers feeding the world.”