Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture Competition (CYSA) Deadline Fast Approaching

Sep 27, 2012

The Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture (CYSA) completion deadline for applicants is September 30. With less than 3 percent of Canada’s population working as farmers – hard working primary producers, it has become increasingly more important to be an advocate for the industry. The CYSA competition provides young people ages 11-24 who are passionate about agriculture and farming the opportunity to share their passion while cultivating public speaking skills.

The competition is an annual event that is held in conjunction with the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. The event began in 1985 and has since been providing young people across Canada with the opportunity to have a forum where they can share their ideas, concerns and passion about the agriculture industry. There are two categories - a junior division (ages 11-15) and a senior division (ages 16-24) and each contestant is to prepare a five to seven minute speech on one of the five predetermined agriculture related topics. The following are this year’s topics:

•Does supply management belong in Canadian agriculture?
•A national food policy: challenges and opportunities for Canada
•The main things people need to know about farming today are …
•Here are farmers’ biggest opportunities
•The importance of water for agriculture and globalization

The registration fee for the junior competition is $20.00 and $40 for the senior competition. For more information about the competition and how to register can be found at http://www.cysa-joca.ca/core/

Last year's winning speeches:

Video: SaskAgToday.com Roundtable: India imposes a 30% duty on all yellow pea imports

Canadian farmers have another barrier to deal with when marketing grain. India announced it will issue a 30% duty on all yellow pea imports, including from Canada, effective Saturday, November 1. That was the main topic of the SaskAgToday.com Roundtable, though it's not the only one as the final crop report of 2025, SARM's recent trip to Ottawa, and the upcoming Grain Millers Harvest Showdown in Yorkton were other notable topics.