In the News: Province’s first dedicated agricultural school on track for 2027 opening

By Brendan Miller, Medicine Hat News
Published on June 23, 2026

Read the online edition: https://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2026/06/23/provinces-first-dedicated-agricultural-school-on-track-for-2027-opening/

High school students in the region will soon have an opportunity to study various agricultural skills, as construction on the Yuill School Agriculture facility in Dunmore is on track to finish in time for the beginning of the 2027-28 school year.

The school will be home to a new agriculture academy through Prairie Rose Public Schools, offering high school students advanced training within the sector to provide a clear pathway to job readiness or further post-secondary education.

Grade 10 students who enrol in the first-of-its-kind academy will begin with structured, foundational training, explains Nichole Neubauer, director of agriculture education, regional agriculture advocate and local producer.

“Students will take foundational training, we’ve partnered with Safety Buzz Campus, they’ll be offering all of our safety programs,” she explains. “Throughout their entire high school experience, students will be earning certificates and building a skills portfolio … to make them an asset for anyone who hires them.”

Neubauer says the fresh crop of Grade 10 students will study everything from horticulture, plant science, raising beef and learning how to operate equipment safely.

“They’re going to know how to hook up a trailer and back it up, they’re going to know how to run equipment and how to run a front-end loader on a tractor – and how to do it safely, that is so important,” said Neubauer, who says by the time students reach graduation they will have the skills necessary to enter the workforce or continue their education.

“They have the skills, they have the training and the experience necessary to go work for farmers and ranches or construction companies in the region. Alternatively, they’ll have taken dual-credit courses with all our post-secondary partners, which gives them a leg up into their post-secondary program.”

The ag academy will incorporate several community mentorships from an advisory council that currently includes 25 members ranging from local ranchers, agronomists, equipment dealers, food processors, community land agribusinesses from across southern Alberta.

“These experts are going to come in and provide training and knowledge and real work experience for kids,” said Neubauer. “Agriculture is an industry that you learn by doing, and learning from the experts really helps bring that learning to life and makes it meaningful.”

Experts will teach students a variety of skills, such as heavy duty equipment operation, animal health, greenhouse development, cropping and irrigation.There is also a psychiatric nurse who will help build programming to support student mental health.

Media was invited to the construction site Monday where footings for the foundation are currently going in. Construction is on track to welcome students at the beginning of the 2027-28 school year.

The facility sits on a parcel of land in Dunmore donated by the Yuill Family Foundation to PRPS.

Neubauer, who has been a longtime advocate for improving agriculture education throughout the region, hopes the facility will become a hub for the region, and says it’s a personal dream of more than 20 years.

“I started off just wanting kids to get excited about agriculture, and when they thought about a farm, or a farmer, they had a little bit more of a connection to what agriculture actually brings to the table.

“Beyond the school-age students, my dream is for it to become a hub of agriculture education, from the very young to the very senior,” says Neubauer. “The rate that agriculture is changing right now with the science and the technology, just so many new things to learn about so that we can be more efficient and more sustainable. This will be a place where the community can come to learn and we can have guest speakers and we can do a little bit of applied research.”