Canadian Agricultural Safety Association Welcomes New CEO

Jan 19, 2021

The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) has announced the appointment of Andrea Lear as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Andrea joins CASA after working as the Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association’s Executive Director.

“I am eager and excited to join CASA”, said Lear. “I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge and experience in supporting CASA’s mandate to promote safety and health in agriculture.”

Lear’s formative years were spent on a Manitoba hobby farm, where she developed an appreciation for the agriculture’s community and culture.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to welcome Andrea as CASA’s Chief Executive Officer," said CASA Chair Carolyn Van Den Heuvel. "Andrea's enthusiasm and passion for agriculture will lead CASA through its next phase of growth."

This appointment comes as a result of the retirement of Marcel Hacault who assumed the position of Executive Director in 2004.

"We thank Marcel for his dedication to farmers, farmworkers, farm families, and farming communities," added Van Den Heuvel. "Marcel took every opportunity to ensure safety was top of mind for our industry and was an amazing ambassador for CASA. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish him well in his retirement."

CASA is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of farmers, their families and agricultural workers. CASA is funded in part through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal, provincial and territorial initiative and receives additional support from the agricultural and corporate sectors.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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