Hamel replaces outgoing Sherk as DFO chair

Jan 31, 2024

TORONTO — Elmwood-area milk producer Mark Hamel has been elected chair of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) board.

He replaces the outgoing Murray Sherk, who completed his final term as chair and retired as member for Oxford and Waterloo (Region 8). Hamel, representing Bruce and Grey (Region 11) and serving as vice-chair since last year, got the nod from his peers at a special Jan. 18 board meeting after DFO’s 2024 annual general meeting.

In other board elections, Region 10’s Roger Boersen became vice-chair and Region 5’s Don Gordon became 2nd vice-chair.

The board’s newest member, Tavistock-area producer Pete Overdevest, assumed his spot in the Region 8 seat vacated by Sherk.

The board’s corporate secretary Arlene Minott and treasurer Rey Moisan were reappointed to their respective positions.

The 12-member board acts on behalf of the province’s supply-managed 3,200-plus dairy farms. DFO employs a staff of about 80.

Source : Farmersforum

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.