Extension worker receives business award
Colleen Younie from Prince Edward Island has been named the 2021 recipient of the Wilson Loree Award, presented during Farm Management Canada’s annual Agricultural Excellence Conference held in November.
Now in its 19th year, the award honours individuals or groups who have made an extraordinary contribution to advancing agricultural business management practices in Canada.
Younie served P.E.I. farm families as a district extension worker since 1972 and has taken on leadership roles within the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture and Land Access. She retired in 2016.
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She was involved on several local boards and 4-H for years, and helped with the development of the Farm Technician Apprenticeship Blue Seal Program, now in its 22nd year.
Younie was part of the creation of Farm Management Canada, formerly the Canadian Farm Business Management Council, in 1992.
Conservation awards presented
Five Albertans have won a 2021 Order of the Bighorn Award for their volunteer efforts toward fish, wildlife and habitat conservation.
The 2021 winners are:
- Jim Smith — retired agrologist with more than four decades of experience in environmental management, land valuation and land stewardship.
- Heinz Plontke — past-president, director and life member of the Lethbridge Fish and Game Association and the Alberta Fish and Game Association, as well as previously awarded the Fulton Award.
- Dr. Rex Coupland — retired veterinarian who worked as a wildlife veterinarian with the Canadian Wildlife Service and assisted with the management and treatment of injured birds of prey in northwestern Alberta.
- Calvin Rakach — with more than 30 years of experience, he has volunteered for the Integrated Land Management Program, Land Use Framework and Alberta’s Plan for Parks working groups, as well as the founding president of the Alberta Outdoors Coalition.
- Gerry Hurley — volunteered in community groups including Alberta Parks, Fish and Wildlife, and the WildSmart program, and was recognized with the Canmore Mayor’s Award for his volunteer contributions.
Innovation in agriculture recognized
VeriGrain has won the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ AE50 award for its grain sampling and data management system.
The product provides stored grain quality and quantity information.
The VeriGrain App helps growers create a digital record for tracking quality and quantity as grain is sampled when it is loaded into or out of storage.
More information about the app is at verigrain.com or email info@verigrain.com.
Organic regeneration receives funding
Durham College has received $900,000 in funding from the Weston Family Foundation to create a new Centre for Organic Regeneration at the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food in Whitby, Ont.
The new 1,500 sq. foot facility and composting system will enable the college to complete the field-to-fork loop by processing food waste from the Whitby campus and returning it to fields at the centre.
This will reduce food waste on campus by 90 percent while lessening the need for compost from outside sources.
The facility will also create research and work-integrated-learning opportunities and will be incorporated into the curriculum for related programs.
