The Alberta government has named Vegreville farmer Greg Porozni as the new chairman of the Alberta Grain Commission.
Porozni, a former commission member (2002-08), was appointed Friday by Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld, citing his work with several agriculture and commodity groups and his familiarity with the AGC.
The AGC is meant to act as an advisory body to the provincial government on policy relating to the province’s grain industry, liaises between industry and government and represents the Alberta grain sector at the national level.
Porozni, who grows cereals, peas and canola on 4,000 acres and runs a cow/calf operation, replaces Eugene Dextrase, a farmer from High Level, as chairman. Dextrase will continue to sit on the commission board, the government said.
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Porozni’s experience in industry groups includes stints as a director with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission (1992-99 and 2004) plus a term last year as its chairman.
He was also a director with the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (2000-01), a member of the Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Council (2001-02), and a federally-appointed member of the Canadian Wheat Board Electoral Advisory Committee that drafted recommendations on CWB electoral policy in 2005.
Porozni had also run in 2002 for a seat on the CWB’s farmer-elected board of directors in District 5, which covers northern Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta. The seat remains held by farmer Allen Oberg of Forestburg, Alta.
During that campaign Porozni — well known for his support for deregulation of the CWB’s single marketing desk for Prairie wheat and barley — drew criticism from the pro-single desk National Farmers’ Union. The NFU considered him to be in an undeclared conflict of interest due to his brief stint with an advisory panel to seed and chemical company Monsanto, which sought feedback on its plans, later shelved, to develop genetically modified Roundup Ready wheat.
