The Macdonald Campus Farm is a teaching and research farm. It includes the only dairy herd on the island of Montreal, a poultry facility (currently under renovation), a large animal research unit, a horticulture research centre and market, and the Emile A. Lods agronomy research centre, all on 240 hectares of land in an urban setting. The farmland is devoted to the production of grains and forages for the farm, pasture for animals, research plots and student gardens.
FMT is taking advantage of having these facilities on campus by teaching many lab classes in the barns and fields so that students can get hands-on experience. The farm is also a large student employer, and FMT students can take advantage of working part-time in the dairy barn or horticulture research centre.
For more information about the Macdonald Campus Farm and the research conducted there, please visit its website.
The Dairy Barn
The Macdonald dairy herd is ranked one of the best managed tie stall herds in Canada and is frequently named one of the best in the region at the Agropur Club of Excellence for Milk Quality Awards. The herd consists of 80 milking cows, most of them Holsteins, but for teaching and research purposes it also has some Jerseys and a few Brown Swiss and Ayrshires.
FMT students make use of the dairy barn in a variety of courses like Dairy Replacement Management, Dairy Performance Management, and Animal Anatomy and Physiology.
The Horticulture Research Centre
The horticulture research centre consists of orchards, vegetable research plots, fruit grading equipment, cold rooms as well as various specialized field equipment. Students who opt for the Vegetable and Fruit Production course in FMT make extensive use of the facilities, but other courses like Introduction to Plant Science use it, too.
The Centre also boasts the Mac Market, where all the seasonal produce from the Horticulture Research Centre is sold daily from June to October.
The Poultry Complex
The poultry complex is currently being renovated, but is usually home to 2,200 laying hens and 1,300 broiler chickens. The eggs produced in this facility go to the McGill dining halls downtown within the McGill feeding McGill program.
The facility is used by FMT students in the Swine and Poultry Management Course, where they perform feed trials.
The Agronomy Research Centre
The Emile A. Lods Agronomy Research Centre consists of research land, buildings and specialized equipment. This facility is used by FMT students in courses such as Soil Tillage, Field Crop Management and Pesticides and the Environment.