New board members
Ed de Jong and Brent Montgomery have been appointed to the National Farm Products Council’s board of directors.
De Jong, born in Abbotsford, B.C., began dairy farming in 1971 and started a broiler breeder operation in 1994.
He has held numerous agricultural-related positions including delegate to the British Columbia Federation of Agriculture, director of the Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Commission and chair of the Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing Agency.
Montgomery, a graduate of Bishop’s University, has occupied a variety of high level positions in agriculture, including chair of the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency, administrator of the Fédération des producteurs de volailles du Québec and vice-chair of the Canadian Turkey Marketing Association.
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Montgomery has also been the mayor of the Municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier since 1988.
The farm products council promotes efficient Canadian farms by improving farm product marketing between Canadian provinces and territories and in the international marketplace.
The three-year appointments are effective immediately.
Biotech challenge winners
The Sanofi-Aventis biotech challenge in the Saskatoon region has handed out $7,600 in prizes.
Competitors in the challenge were chosen by their schools in November and matched with mentors. They completed their research in their mentors’ labs last winter.
This year’s winners in the open category for Grade 9 to 12 students included Xingyu Zhou, a Grade 9 student from Walter Murray Collegiate, who won first prize and $2,300 for her project examining the antioxidant effects of tree bark.
Zhou also won the $1,200 Monsanto Commercialization Award, which was awarded to the project with the best commercial potential.
Second prize and $1,300 went to Victor Li, also of Walter Murray. Li’s project studied the effectiveness of St. John’s Wort in treating depression.
Third prize and $750 went to Cassandra Sondershausen of Mother Teresa School and Natasha Weninger of St. Luke School, who studied a new way of propagating blue honeysuckle, a potential new commercial fruit crop for Saskatchewan.
In the junior category, which is open to Grade 7 and 8 students, Bryan Wan of Greystone Heights School took first prize of $950 for his project entitled Are All Lions the Same? The project looked at the different kinds of dandelions found in Saskatoon.
Second prize worth $700 went to Sean Bolley of St. Bernard School for his project entitled Battling Bertha, which examined new ways of combating bertha armyworm infestations.
