Kemptville College to Remain Open for Another Year

Apr 22, 2014

Province Intervenes in Ag College Closure, Provides $2M for 2014 Academic Year

One more year.

That’s the news that the Kemptville College agricultural community received from the province today.

The Ontario government pledged $2 million to the University of Guelph to continue to offer agricultural programing at the college for the 2014 academic year.

Brad Duguid, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, and Grant Crack, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Food and MPP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, made the announcement today at the Kemptvillge Campus.

In March the University of Guelph said that it would close its Kemptville and Alfred agricultural campuses in 2015 citing budgetary restraints. Both colleges are located in Eastern Ontario.

Following the university’s decision to close the campuses, a number of people spoke out about how the closure would have a negative impact on the province’s farming community.

Member of Provincial Parliament Steve Clark, whose riding is home to Kemptville College, asked Premier Kathleen Wynne for a two-year moratorium on the closures to allow an intake of new students. Clark has long advocated for a community-based solution for the college’s future.

While the provincial government choose not to go the moratorium route, it has bought the agricultural community some time to put in place a solution for the future, but no details on a framework going forward was outlined in the release.

“Our government understands and appreciates the importance of students in eastern Ontario having access to high quality agricultural programs and services,” Brad Duguid, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities said in a release. Duguid adds that he plans to work with community stakeholders to find a long-term solution for the college.

Funds are earmarked for the following programs:

Agricultural equipment technician
Heavy duty equipment technician
Truck and coach technician
Welder
Horticultural technician
Dairy herdsperson

Given the nature of the announcement, only one year programs are included in the package. The two year agriculture diploma program was not salvaged. However, students already enrolled in the campus’s various associate diploma programs will be able to complete their programs before the university ceases control over the college.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.