Lakeland hires applied research director
François Paradis is the new director in Lakeland College’s applied research department.
Paradis has 20 years of experience in the agricultural and livestock sectors, including as a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Ottawa, and has worked with Agriculture Canada supporting research in beef cattle.
The last eight years were with the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences as a senior administer.
Haider Abbas has also joined the applied research team as a broadleaf research scientist.
Read Also
Ag in Motion speaker highlights need for biosecurity on cattle operations
Ag in Motion highlights need for biosecurity on cattle farms. Government of Saskatchewan provides checklist on what you can do to make your cattle operation more biosecure.
He holds a PhD in agriculture and did collaborative work in research centres in China and the United Kingdom.
Abbas has worked in agriculture for more than 20 years, the last decade of which were spent as part of the research and development team of Ag- Quest, Cargill and Dow AgroSciences/Corteva.
Ag youth council members announced
The federal minister of agriculture recently unveiled the 25 members who will form the second cohort of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council.
The council was created in July 2020 with a group of 25 young people representing a diverse mix of people from the agriculture and agri-food sub-sectors, as well as from each province and the North.
The inaugural meeting of this new group of young people will be held later this summer. They will serve 18-month terms.
The renewed council will see 15 new faces joining the 10 returning members serving a second term.
The council’s main task is to ensure that the views of Canadian youth in agriculture are understood and to help inform on government policy and programs, planning and decision-making.
Beef research award presented
Yousef Papadopoulos has been awarded the 2022 Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation.
He is a research scientist with Agriculture Canada at the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre in Truro, N.S. He is also an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University.
Papadopoulos is known for his contributions to forage development and ruminant livestock sustainability.
Canola group seeks director nominations
Nominations are open until Oct. 31 for growers to serve as directors on the board of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission to represent regions 1, 4, 7, and 10.
Eligible producers can be individuals or represent a corporation, partnership, or organization.
To be nominated, eligible producers must grow canola within the defined region.
Directors work with fellow farmers to represent growers in their region and collaborate with decision makers to drive industry forward.
Nomination forms can be mailed or emailed to web@albertacanola.com, faxed to 780-451-6933 or delivered to the commission office.
For more information, contact Alberta Canola executive director Karla Bergstrom at 780-454-0844 or karla@albertacanola.com.
WGRF appoints new executive director
Wayne Thompson will be the new executive director of Western Grains Research Foundation starting Dec. 1.
Thompson will replace Garth Patterson, who is retiring from the position after 11 years.
Thompson has been the executive director of the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission for the past eight years and president of the Flax Council of Canada for two years.
Before that, he worked as a research program manager for WGRF. He also held previous positions with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture in the policy branch and was executive director of the Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association.
