CFO Women in Leadership Community Engagement Activity at Burlington Chamber of Commerce

BURLINGTON, ON – Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) was pleased to invite farmer-members to attend the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s “Adversity, Resiliency, Success” panel discussion earlier today on how to overcome adversity and demonstrate resilience to achieve success.

 

The event featured Lisa Lisson, best selling author and President of FedEx Express Canada as keynote speaker, and the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of International Development, MP for Burlington; Dr. Sara Cumming, Executive Director, Home Suite Hope; and Dr. Janet Morrison, President & Vice Chancellor, Sheridan College as panelists for a moderated discussion.

 

CFO’s attendance at today’s event was part of the CFO Women in Leadership Initiative’s community engagement program, which encourages participating farmer-members to plan and attend local networking, education and engagement activities within their local farming communities.

 

More than half of CFO’s over 1,300 family-run farms have female ownership.

 

The CFO Board of Directors recognizes the importance of having gender diverse representation at all levels of corporate governance. Focused on the future, and continually committed to new and robust solutions towards achieving excellence and driving our industry forward, the Board is encouraging motivated women farmer-members who are interested in participating in the CFO Women in Leadership governance process to reach out and get involved.

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.