All about growth
Cultiv8 Innovation Sandbox program helping students develop business skills
Two plant science students from India are learning important field skills in vegetable horticulture thanks to the Cultiv8 Innovation Sandbox program at Dalhousie’s agricultural campus in Bible Hill.
Iniya Rajan and Anagha Pradeep Kumar are part of the initiative that provides students with an opportunity to learn entrepreneurship. The duo is spending 20 hours a week at Dal AC’s demonstration garden on Pictou Road.
“Back in India I got a chance to do only one project in the field, but here I got to know about many plants and everything, so it’s very cool,” said Rajan. “We are harvesting it and we are selling it, so I am having a great experience.”
The Cultiv8 Innovation Sandbox was founded in
2014 as a joint project hosted by Nova Scotia universities and community colleges.
The project brings together students, mentors and advisors from across the province to help students develop entrepreneurial skills and mindsets. Students gain tools and practice in areas such as teamwork and collaboration, self-confidence, networking and more.
Rajan and Pradeep Kumar completed three years of studies at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in India. As exchange students, they came to Dal AC two years ago and will graduate in April 2022 with a degree from both universities.
At the Dal AC garden site, Rajan and Pradeep Kumar are involved in all aspects of vegetable production and have also helped with other related hands-on projects such as the construction of high tunnels for temperature control and protection.
“They’re literally practicing everything you would need to do to go forward,” said Jason Grant, manager of the Cultiv8 Innovation Sandbox at Dal AC.
Both students will return to India and use the knowledge they gained through the Cultiv8 program in their homeland.
“It’s pretty neat to be able to think of how they might apply what they learned here, there,” said Grant. “Methodologies are different but there’s many things that are the same.”
The program is also beneficial in that it allows the girls to learn best industry practices and develop problemsolving skills in a low-risk environment – all part of the learning process before venturing out on their own.
“This is a great experience,” said Pradeep Kumar. “Back in India we had practical knowledge and we hardly got to go to the field to do any stuff. So, we had all the critical knowledge with us but we didn’t experience (it) in the field.
So, after coming here … it was great to experience every part of the cultivation, even from preparing the seed beds, planting them and growing them, irrigating, monitoring them and finally harvesting, and even experiencing the marketing – that is a huge experience one can get.”
Rajan and Pradeep Kumar aren’t the only ones gaining valuable experience at the demonstration garden this summer. John Raymond, an agricultural business student with a minor in plant science, is the resident student lead who oversees the site.
“Oh my God, I love this,” he said. “I love working with food, I’m a big proponent of food security and improving that, and there are some things that I get to play around with here and test out and try and improve, and I love working outside with my hands.”