Lisa Thompson named Ont. minister of ag

Jun 18, 2021

The provincial government announced a cabinet shuffle changing several key roles

By Jackie Clark
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Today, premier Doug Ford announced a shuffle in the provincial cabinet. Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce, will replace Ernie Hardeman as the Ontario minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has worked closely with both individuals over the past several years.

“As we collectively embark on a new path with Hon. Lisa Thompson as minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, OFA would like to acknowledge and recognize the significant contributions of Hon. Ernie Hardeman as a champion of the industry and our rural communities,” said a June 18 statement from the OFA.

“Minister Hardeman was a true advocate for agriculture and rural Ontario and understood the importance of our sector to the entire province.”

Among his most notable accomplishments as minister, Hardeman played a major role in the introduction of the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, 2020.

“We engaged regularly with Minister Hardman over the past few years and wholeheartedly appreciate his passion for agriculture and his desire to see our dynamic industry grow, innovate and move forward,” Peggy Brekveld said in the statement.

“Minister Thompson has a valuable understanding of farm and rural issues and has a direct connection to those communities,” she added. “We look forward to working alongside her to grow the industry and continue to focus on the priorities and opportunities that will stimulate economic growth for all Ontarians.”

Other notable changes include Dave Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South replacing Jeff Yurek as minister of environment and Greg Rickford, MPP for Kenora-Rainy River taking over the combined role of minister of northern development, mining, natural resources, and forestry as well as indigenous affairs. Kinga Surma, MPP for Etobicoke Centre replaces Laurie Scott as minister of infrastructure.

“A change in leadership within the government offers the opportunity to engage new ministries, MPPs and staff to better understand the vital role the agri-food industry and rural communities have in producing economic prosperity for the province,” said the OFA.

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”