Glacier FarmMedia – Three new members have been inducted into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame: Kee Jim of Okotoks, Blair Roth of Lethbridge and a posthumus induction of Manfred Kanehl of Parkland County.
Jim is a veterinarian who founded Feedlot Health Management Services in Okotoks. He developed a data-driven approach to feedlot cattle health. His work established effective disease protocols, especially for fall-placed weaned calves, improving animal health, efficiency and profitability in Alberta’s cattle industry.
He has also served on numerous boards and associations and provided critical expertise during BSE, trade disputes and drought recovery.
In the 1990s, Kanehl championed advancements in food safety in the Canadian egg industry. His work led to the development of Egg Farmers of Canada’s Start Clean-Stay Clean on-farm food safety program, which is still in use today.
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In 1997, he and his son founded Specht-Canada, which distributed high-quality poultry caging from Germany and Italy. These systems are known for animal welfare standards and advanced manure management.
The same year, Kanehl donated equipment to the University of Alberta’s Poultry Unit expansion.
He was a founding member of Alberta Farm Animal Care and was passionate about public education for the agriculture industry. His daughter, Susan Schafers, took over the farm after his death in 2021. Schafers, who accepted the award on her father’s behalf, is a former chair of Alberta Egg Producers.
Roth has been an advocate for special crops since beginning his career as an assistant district agriculturist in 1976. By 1979, he was southern Alberta’s special crops specialist, leading trials and market assessments for crops including mint, safflower, dry beans, peas, lentils and mustard.
He played an important role in developing pulse crops as a dryland farming option.
Roth was instrumental in establishing the Alberta Pulse Growers Association and the Alberta Safflower Growers Association. He did significant work to develop specialty oat and pea processing plants and advanced Alberta’s dry bean industry.
He cofounded the Prairie Pesticide Minor Use Consortium in 2000 and served as its chair for 15 years. The group enabled critical pesticide registrations for pulses, forages, vegetables and spices.
The inductees were nominated by their peers through an open process and reviewed by a panel of judges from Alberta’s agriculture industry.
The Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame was created in 1951. Since then, 144 men and women have been inducted.
On Jan. 29, a permanent showcase called the Ag Hall of Fame exhibit opened to celebrate both new and former hall of fame inductees and the history of Albertan agriculture.
It also includes the Century Farm and Ranch Award exhibit, which is housed in the grain elevator at the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alta.
