Meeting season on the Prairies brings new leadership to Alberta’s merged wheat and barley commissions, along with new board members for the province’s canola and pulse groups.
Alberta Grains on Jan. 31 announced Tara Sawyer, who farms near Acme, as the chair for its inaugural board of directors. Sawyer previously served as Alberta Barley’s chair, and chaired the interim Alberta Grains board since the marriage of Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission became official last August.
Scott Jespersen, who farms near Spruce Grove and had been a director with Alberta Barley since 2021, was named Alberta Grains’ first vice-chair. He had been the second vice-chair on the merged group’s interim board. Second vice-chair on the inaugural Alberta Grains board will be Devin Hartzler, who farms near Carstairs and had been an AWC director since 2020, also serving on the interim Alberta Grains board.
“There is so much opportunity in the industry as a whole and as a board, we’re leveraging that to ensure wheat and barley remain a top choice for farmers and end-users alike,” Sawyer said in a release.
The regional directors on the first official Alberta Grains board also include Dean Hubbard and David Bishop in Region 1, Stewart Oke and Dick Wymenga in Region 3, Shawn Jacula and Brent Christensen in Region 4 and Greg Sears and Tasha Alexander in Region 6. Sawyer and Hartzler represent Region 2, while Jespersen represents Region 5.
Alberta Canola, at its annual meeting Jan. 24, re-elected Roger Chevraux of Killam as chair and elected Charles Simoneau of Guy as the vice-chair.
Jeff Frost of Olds joins the Alberta Canola board representing Region 8, replacing Ian Chitwood, who’d served that region for six years.
The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, which also held its annual general meeting Jan. 24, re-elected Shane Strydhorst of Neerlandia as its chair.
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APG’s executive committee also includes Peter Konstapel of Spirit River, who returns as vice-chair and a Zone 4 representative, and past chair Robert Semeniuk of Smoky Lake, representing Zone 5.
New on the APG board is Michael Bury of Mannville, as director at large (non-bean). He replaces Bev Wieben of Fairview, who remains on the board but now as a director for Zone 4, the northwest and Peace region. Jerome Isaac, previously a director for Zone 4, was thanked for his service on the board.
