Manitoba’s canola growers have elected a new president and set up a new executive position of past president.

Manitoba crop organizations name new brass

Groups announce new board members and executives for 2024-25

Manitoba’s crop organizations have come out of meeting season with a number of new leaders and directors. The Manitoba Canola Growers Association has elected Warren Ellis of Wawanesa as its president for 2024-25, with Jackie Dudgeon-MacDonald of Darlingford acclaimed as vice-president and Nicolea Dow of Portage la Prairie acclaimed as secretary and named treasurer. “The […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

SaskCanola, SaskFlax merge offices, management

Groups will maintain separate governing boards, levies

Sasskatchewan’s canola and flax development commissions are consolidating their management, staff and office space under one roof. SaskCanola and SaskFlax said Wednesday their new “management collaboration” will translate to efficiencies for both commissions with “a full staff complement to support both boards.” Both organizations will now operate out of the current SaskCanola office at Innovation […] Read more

Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 20, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Second activist investor buys into Elanco

Reuters — Hedge fund Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in Elanco Animal Health and nominated three directors to the animal healthcare company’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The WSJ report did not mention the size of Starboard’s stake in Elanco, which makes treatments for pets […] Read more


Reporter’s Notebook: Working with other boards

Making one non-profit board effective can be hard. Now, try bringing 2 together

A basic principle of horsemanship is that you should make the right thing easy for the horse to do, and the wrong thing hard. For example, if your horse doesn’t want to stand still, don’t try to force him to stand still. Instead, make him work — sidepass, turn on the foreleg, etc. The idea is that the […] Read more

On board: Gary Stanford, Trent Rude, Jean-Marc Ruest, Harvey Brooks, Kevin Bender (back, l-r), Brent Watchorn, Cigi CEO JoAnne Buth, Drew Baker, Bill Gehl and Jim Smolik (front, l-r). (Photo courtesy Cigi)

Prairie wheat commissions, grain firms to fund Cigi

The technical institute for Canadian field crops will get its core funding from now on through the Prairies’ major grain export firms and its three provincial wheat grower commissions. Cigi, the Canadian International Grains Institute, on Tuesday announced the new funding model, plus a new governance model setting up a new 10-member board of directors […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ontario redrafts vegetable grower organization governance

Ontario’s Farm Products Marketing Commission (OFPMC) is proposing a new governance structure for the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers, which has been without a board of directors since March. The commission last week released proposed amendments to provincial Regulations 441 and 400, which would set up an eight-member OPVG board with an OFPMC-appointed chair. The amendments […] Read more

(AFSC.ca)

Alberta recruits new board for AFSC

Alberta’s provincial government has named a new board of directors to its farm financing and crop insurance agency, to replace the board it fired last year. Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier on Thursday announced the appointment of a new eight-member board for the provincial Agriculture Financial Services Corp., (AFSC), which has been handled by an interim […] Read more


(Government of Alberta via Flickr)

Alberta sacks AFSC board over top brass’ expenses

Alberta’s government has dismissed the board of its farm financing and crop insurance agency following an internal probe into “expense and procurement practices” for senior executives. Three unnamed senior executives at Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) have also been “relieved from active duty,” the province said in a release Monday. The province on Monday named […] Read more

Saskatchewan’s wheat and barley development commissions back research and market development work, supported by grower-funded levies. (Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Minogue: Campaigning heats up Sask. commodity board elections

Elections at the commodity association board level in Saskatchewan, often known for a landslide lack of interest, may get goosed this year with candidates investing bigger stakes in their campaigns. Ballots have been mailed out and board elections are now underway for the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (SaskWheat) and the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission (SaskBarley). […] Read more