Nutrien gift helps launch new chapter for digital agriculture and Indigenous knowledge at USask

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) is officially opening the Nutrien Digital Agriculture Centre and the kihci-okâwîmâw askiy (Great Mother Earth) Knowledge Centre thanks to a transformational $15-million gift from Nutrien to the university.

The donation, made last year during the university’s Be What the World Needs campaign, is supporting renewed spaces and programming in the two centres—both housed in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources. Together, these centres will support cutting-edge agricultural research, student success, Indigenous engagement, and community-building. Nutrien’s gift has also supported scholarships for engineering and agriculture and bioresources students.

“Nutrien’s investment in USask is a powerful example of what can be achieved through partnership,” said Dr. Vince Bruni-Bossio (PhD), president and vice-chancellor at USask. “Thanks to Nutrien’s generosity, we are creating spaces where innovation, Indigenous knowledge, research, and collaboration can thrive. We are grateful for their gift and the lasting impact it will have across our university and beyond.”

“These new centres, and the people who will gather within them, will foster new knowledge, new relationships, and new ways of understanding some of the most important questions facing agriculture and our society,” said Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn (PhD), dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources.

With a goal of advancing agriculture across the industry and the province, Nutrien’s gift demonstrates the company’s long-standing commitment to research, students, and Indigenous initiatives at USask.

“The most meaningful investments are the ones that continue creating opportunities long after the funding is committed,” said Noralee Bradley, executive vice-president, external affairs, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Nutrien. “These centres will bring people together to learn from one another, build new relationships, and explore ideas that can advance digital agriculture, deepen knowledge, and strengthen our connection to the land. We’re proud to support that work.”

Nutrien Digital Agriculture Centre will connect people, data, and discovery

Established through Nutrien’s gift, the Nutrien Digital Agriculture Centre (NDAC) will support digital agriculture research and collaboration with a goal of accelerating farming into the digital age—creating more sustainable and resilient food systems along the way. 

Designed as a collaborative hub with workstations, meeting areas, and spaces for industry and community partners to meet, the centre will be home to researchers, staff, and students supporting three research platforms. The Geospatial Agroecosystem Inference Generator (GAIG) is designed for mapping and analyzing agricultural ecosystems; the UAV Crop Phenomics Platform will accelerate plant breeding, crop research, and agricultural management; and the Smart Farm platform will help farmers improve practices under real-world conditions.

Dr. Steve Shirliffe (PhD), director of NDAC, said he and his team are unabashedly ambitious about the goals of the new centre. “We believe we are in the right place in the right time with the right people to make a meaningful difference in agriculture —not only for Saskatchewan and Canada, but globally.

“We know there is tremendous interest in digital agriculture, and this space will be a magnet for bringing together researchers, students, producers, industry partners, and communities while supercharging our research in ways that weren’t possible before.”

kihci-okāwīmāw askiy Knowledge Centre creates a welcoming space grounded in Indigenous worldviews

Both a welcoming gathering space and a source of information about the land, the kihci-okāwīmāw askiy Knowledge Centre supports the development of land-related teaching, research, and engagement opportunities of significance to Indigenous communities.

Nutrien’s generous funding of the centre has supported both physical transformations and more robust staffing. The renovated space features Indigenous-designed elements that reflect treaty relationships and connections to the land, including a river woven through the flooring, a dedicated gathering space for Elders and Knowledge Keepers, and areas designed to support learning, relationship-building, and community engagement.

The centre will provide a physical space for askiy workshops, which offer a unique professional development opportunity focusing on Indigenous perspectives of land, history, worldviews, and contemporary challenges. Students enrolled in the Kanawayihetaytan Askiy Certificate Program will attend classes at the centre and have a welcoming home base on the USask campus. Jordie Gagnon, senior strategic officer, Indigenous Programs and Partnerships, will also host ongoing Indigenization workshops for College of Agriculture and Bioresources staff and faculty in the centre.

“This space is a representation of our future as Indigenous peoples as well as the work of members of our steering committee who have provided advice and guidance,” said Candice Pete-Cardoso, director of the kihci-okāwīmāw askiy Knowledge Centre. “Our work is for the next seven generations. It’s about decolonizing and reconciliation in action.”

Two centres, a shared commitment to collaboration

Leaders in the two centres have already begun discussions on opportunities for the two centres to collaborate through research, teaching, and engagement moving forward.

“We have an immense opportunity to think about how digital resources could be utilized within Indigenous communities to help with long-term planning and stewardship,” said Naomi Carriere, manager, Grasslands Stewardship and Knowledge Exchange Network at the kihci-okāwīmāw askiy Knowledge Centre, “and so being aligned with NDAC and the digital mapping and information is timely, and can provide impactful management tools and innovations.”

Shirtliffe believes that relationship building is foundational as the two centres enter this new phase. “I am cognizant that we need to build long-lasting and respectful relationships without coming in with a colonial mindset that we can immediately solve all problems,” he said. “We are here to learn about the land, about treaties, and how NDAC and our people can be a model of reconciliation as we move forward.”

The grand opening of the two centres, located just steps apart, marks the beginning of a new chapter for the college and the communities they serve.