John Ross will replace Martin Rice as executive director of the Canadian Pork Council.
Ross will start his new job Feb. 29 and work with Rice until the latter’s retirement at the end of April.
His name is likely to be familiar to many in the Canadian meat industry. He is chair of the industry-government steering committee for country-of-origin labelling, which has been the focus of a trade dispute with the United States for several years.
He has also served as Agriculture Canada’s representative on the beef value chain roundtable.
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Ross is scheduled to retire from his federal government job in mid-February. In a news release, the pork council said it was pleased to hire a man with 30 years of experience in government and a long-standing interest in livestock.
“We are very excited to have John on our team,” said council chair Rick Bergmann in the release.
“John will bring his knowledge and experience from the public sector to our organization. Having worked on livestock development issues for most his career with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, his skills, leadership and experience are what our industry needs in a senior position at this time.”
The pork council represents 7,000 farms that produce 25.5 million hogs a year.
