CANADA: Horizon School Division, Nutrien Brings Hydroponic Learning Lab to Lanigan Students
Ryan Young
June 11, 2026
Students at Lanigan School will soon get their hands dirty while learning about food production and agriculture.
Horizon School Division and Nutrien announced this week a partnership that will see the installation of a hydroponic grow container at the school.
Director of Education for Horizon Kevin Garinger says they first saw the grow container in Alberta a few years ago, and the one to be established in Lanigan is the first of its kind within the School Division.
"Food security is so vital, and I think one of the things that we are trying to do through this process is educate our children about the impact of the work our farmers, our communities, and our big businesses do in support of agriculture in our province and ultimately across our country and world." said Garinger, adding its opportunities like this that can inspire students to pursue a career in agriculture.
"If we make that impact, if we make that kind of impact on the ag industry, on our children to understand that these are the opportunities that exist for them, we're doing really good things for our school division, for our province, and for our world."
This is the latest step in bolstering agricultural education at Horizon over the last four years. Garinger says they reached out to Nutrien about opportunities to connect the agriculture community with students.
"We actually reached out to Nutrien and said, "Hey, we understand that there may be some opportunity to connect and maybe do some things at the school to really sort of enhance agriculture in that way." And it's led to this amazing opportunity that we're announcing today." he said.
The container will be funded by a $250,000 gift from Nutrien.
General Manager of Nutrien's Lanigan potash mine Rob Jackson says it will allow students and staff to develop skills and explore ways to grow food for themselves and their communities.
Jackson also says it will help students better understand the food chain, from farm to table.
"I think it's been great for them to understand what it takes to get that food and all the different jobs that are associated with it—directly in the farm or directly in the mine, but all the other ones that support it, whether it's manufacturing, support, and otherwise, so really good exposure for everybody." Jackson said.
This partnership is one way Nutrien is giving back to the community that supports them, Jackson said.
"It's critical. They're the ones that support us and people that come and live in the community and work in the community and support all the things to do to run our operations. They're what let us operate the way we do, and so we always want to be supporting the community, whether it's through what we do, volunteerism, or our employees. I'm always proud when I look—and if you want to look at whether it's sports and coaching, assistant boards—they're always employees that are on there and help the communities thrive and do all those supports."
Students will get their first opportunity to use the grow container this fall.
Ryan Young is the Agriculture News Director for 620 CKRM and host of “SaskAgToday”, Harvard Media’s flagship agricultural show. He graduated from Western Academy Broadcasting College in January 2015 and got his start at 105 CJVR in Melfort as an intern the same year. Prior to getting “behind the wheel” of agriculture news in April 2023, Ryan was a reporter and news anchor for CKRM’s sister radio station, GX94, from 2015-2023.