Crystal Mackay to speak at well-respected William A. Stewart Lecture and Reception

Feb 14, 2023

GUELPH, ON, - The Rural Ontario Institute through the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) honours William Stewart’s remarkable legacy with the biennial William A Stewart reception and lecture. This year, the popular event takes place in London on March 23rd, and features special guest Crystal Mackay, well known speaker, trainer and AgriFood expert. From networking to relationships, what is the value of connecting for you and your business? Crystal reminds us that, to grow, the sector needs to focus on its people!

Registration for the Wm. A. Stewart Public Gala and Reception will take place at 6:30 pm at the Best Western Plus Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre 591 Wellington Rd, London. “It is more important than ever to press pause on our to do lists and make the time to meet and connect in person”, says Mackay. She will share her refreshing insights on the tremendous value for individuals, our industry, and our entire society to come together. Crystal co-founded Loft32 in 2019 with the goal to elevate people, businesses, and the conversations on food and farming.

“Crystal Mackay is a recognized leader, passionate advocate and engaging speaker who has delivered over 1000 presentations and 500 media interviews around the globe”, says Gabe Ferguson, ROI leadership programs director, “we are delighted to have one of our AALP alumna as our speaker.”

Since 1995 William A. Stewart has been recognized for his legacy of public service, community involvement, and leadership. He was the Ontario Minister of Agriculture from 1961 to 1975 and Chancellor of the University of Guelph from 1983 to 1989. He had a significant impact on leadership in this field and was a key supporter of AALP.

Tickets for this public event are $75 and are available online at http://www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca/events. Attendees are also encouraged to bring a guest interested in joining AALP for a special rate of $40.00. AALP is delivered by the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) and is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Established in 1984, AALP has graduated more than 500 leaders who are making a positive impact across Ontario and beyond, leading in over 133 agri-food value chain organizations and businesses.

Source : Rural Ontario Institute

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.