Three new members were elected to AgScape’s 2017 Board of Directors at the organization’s annual general meeting on May 3. The 12-member board directs the organization’s mandate to advance specialized agri-food education in Ontario.
Jim McMillan, a farmer from Beamsville, ON joins the board in a community seat position. Charlotte O’Neill from Elanco Animal Health and Stephanie Szusz from TD Canada Trust both join the board in corporate seat positions. Peter Hohenadel from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair was re-elected to the board in a corporate seat position.
Returning board members who are taking on new duties include Audrie Bouwmeester and Jennifer Peart. Audrie Bouwmeester – a dairy education program manager with Dairy Farmers of Ontario – is the newly appointed acting chair and vice chair, and holds a corporate seat position. Jennifer Peart with Farm Credit Canada has been appointed acting treasurer and also holds a corporate seat on the board.
“Consumers of all ages are so much more aware of food and how it is produced,” says Audrie Bouwmeester, AgScape acting chair and vice chair. “AgScape sees tremendous opportunities to inform and engage today’s young consumers, and we’ve created a fantastic range of resources to educate our audiences.”
AgScape’s board includes three additional community seats held by past chair Lorie Jocius, Deb Campbell of Agronomy Advantage and Natalie Walt with Ceres Global Ag Corp. Three additional corporate seats are held by Kathryn Doan of AgCareers.com, Mark Kerry with Monsanto Canada Inc. and Meaghan Ryersee from Syngenta Canada Inc. The AgScape board also includes two advisors – Catherine Mahler with the Ministry of Education and Helen Scutt with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
“We’re off to a great start this year with such strong board representatives,” says AgScape Executive Director Colleen Smith. “Everyone is so passionate about bringing agriculture and information about our agri-food system into schools and raising awareness about the career opportunities this sector can offer.”
AgScape is a not-for-profit organization providing reliable and balanced resources to Ontario schools on agriculture, food production, environmental sustainability and related topics. AgScape, formerly OAFE, was created in 1991 with the mission of building awareness and understanding of the importance of our agriculture and food system.
Source: AgScape