Anand Aneja is excited for the collaboration opportunities his new job at Assiniboine College is providing for MPSG.
BY: Ashley Robinson
For Anand Aneja, his new position as the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean (MPSG) research agronomist in residence at Assiniboine College, is a homecoming in some respects. While Aneja never attended Assiniboine College, back before he ever set foot in Canada, he worked as an assistant professor at Punjab Agricultural University in India. In that role, he did research and extension, along with teaching vocational courses such as beekeeping.
He decided to move to Canada for opportunities for his family and as many of his friends were also making the move. Aneja moved to Manitoba in 2013. He started working in retail industry at gas stations and grocery stores before finding his way back to agriculture. For the better part of the last decade, Aneja worked as a research agronomist with Integrated Crop Management Services (ICMS) in Portage la Prairie, M.B. While at ICMS, he worked on pesticide efficiency and varietal evaluation for major prairie crops.
“I was little bit reluctant to go (to Assiniboine College) for the teaching. It’s 30 per cent teaching in the College position. But then I have a friend in the College, and she’s my classmate too, and she encouraged me, ‘No, it’s okay, you can do it,’” Aneja says.
In the end, it was the perfect fit for Aneja, and he started working at Assiniboine College in March 2025. His first six months were spent getting used to his new job and introducing himself to Western Manitoba pulse and soybean growers by attending field days across Westman.
“(Assiniboine College has) so many projects, so many teachers who are working on the applied research. Collaborating with MPSG, it’s a new program for the College, and they are so excited. My dean was saying that we should approach other organizations to start this kind of program in the college so that we can expand more in terms of applied research,” explains Aneja.
This new role is meant to increase MPSG’s presence on the western side of the province and add to the association’s collaborations with Assiniboine College and the Agriculture and Agri-Food (AAFC) Brandon Research and Development Centre. To date, Aneja has worked on the MPSG variety trials, the On-Farm Network, and the final report for the pea leaf weevil research project. He has worked with AAFC on disease surveys for peas, faba beans and dry beans.
Aneja’s job is 70 per cent research work and 30 per cent teaching courses at the college. Initially, he wasn’t thrilled about the teaching aspect and was nervous for it. However, this fall when he started teaching his first few classes, he found himself enjoying the return to the classroom.
“I would like to stay in the research mode…but once I start teaching the course, I was like no, I can do two or three courses,” Aneja adds. “I’m enjoying research more still. Teaching is something very, very stressful, like it demands so much. But it is so much learning before you can deliver in classroom. I’m not saying that research is easy, but when you are spending 10 years doing research (it’s calmer).”
Aneja is looking forward to expanding research for problems that MPSG farmers in Western Manitoba are facing and testing new crops for them to grow. He has limited experience with crops like lupins and faba beans but is looking forward to learning more about them and the opportunities for growing them in Western Manitoba.