Falher (Rural Roots Canada) – In Alberta’s Peace Country, a farmer-directed research organization is helping producers improve their operations by testing new practices and technologies tailored to the region’s unique needs.

SARDA Ag Research, based in Falher, conducts unbiased research on a range of topics, from crop inputs to new farming methods. The goal is to help farmers make better decisions based on data from their region, without the cost or risk of trying unproven methods themselves.

“SARDA Ag Research is an organization that does non-biased research to help our local farmers come up with new ways, new things that are out there, bring the truth to it,” says Simon Lavoie, a St. Isidore-area farmer and chair of SARDA. “We can see firsthand what works, what doesn’t work. SARDA is the groundbreaker for the new stuff for the north.”

Lavoie says one of SARDA’s strengths is that it’s farmer-controlled, meaning local producers determine the direction of the research based on the challenges they face, rather than relying solely on industry trends.

“We can see pressures from the industries that are pushing us towards different things that are possibly not going to work as good in our area,” he says. “If they get the feedback from the farmers and they try the stuff that they actually want to see in our area instead of being forced down a road that we don’t want to be.”

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Partnerships are a key part of SARDA’s approach. The organization works closely with other research bodies across Alberta and the Prairies, including an annual collaboration with Farming Smarter in Lethbridge.

Vance Yaremko, SARDA Executive Director, says the organization’s mission has always been about helping farmers, not selling to them.

“I like the fact that here we help farmers, and I’m not selling stuff to farmers,” says Yaremko, who began working with SARDA as a summer student in 1994. “That makes the job more rewarding because you’re here to support producers, not to sell them a product. It’s about providing knowledge they can trust.”

Learn more about SARDA by clicking here.