Agricultural Leader Awarded King Charles III Coronation Medal

Kim Jo Bliss, a community leader and lead technician at the Ontario Crops Research Centre – Emo, has received a King Charles III Coronation Medal for her work driving agricultural innovation in Northern Ontario.  

Bliss is a passionate beef and sheep farmer with deep agricultural roots and is the lead technician at the Emo site, helping with experiments, collecting data and analyzing results. The Ontario Crops Research Centre is owned by the Government of Ontario through its agency Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario and is managed by the University of Guelph through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario and U of G.  

Bliss was recognized with the coronation medal for her work driving innovation and offering her knowledge and expertise to researchers working at the centre through Northern Ontario’s short growing season. She has been working with the centre since 1988. 

The commemorative Coronation Medal is awarded to Canadians who have made a significant contribution to their country or province. It is the first Canadian medal to mark a coronation. Greg Rickford, minister of Indigenous affairs and First Nations economic reconciliation and MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, presented Bliss with her medal. 

“I am so pleased to receive this honour,” Bliss says. “I don’t do the work for recognition. I do the work because I believe in it, and I want everyone to know about the good things happening in Northern Ontario.”