The Brant County Agricultural Awareness Committee has been named 2019 recipient of Farm & Food Care Ontario’s Champion Award for its Bite of Brant program. Educational programs like these bring the story of agriculture close to home for school-aged children.

The B.C. Tree Fruits Cooperative has appointed two new senior executives –Todd McMyn as chief executive officer (CEO) and Ross Dwhytie as chief financial officer (CFO). The Kelowna-based cooperative represents more than 400 local grower families.

Ken Forth is the recipient of Grape Growers of Ontario 2019 Award of Merit.  The broccoli grower is president of the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Service (FARMS), and has dedicated his career to providing labour support for farmers and international agricultural workers.

Albrecht Seeger will be honoured with the 2019 Niagara Agriculture Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the fourth generation of his family to grow grapes.

Ontario’s $4.4 billion grape and wine industry celebrated pioneers and mentors as the 2019 season gets underway. The Tony Aspler Cuvée Award of Excellence went to Doug Whitty and the team at 13th Street Winery.

United Fresh Produce Association announced the recipients of the 2019 ‘Retail Produce Manager Awards.’ Two Canadians, Mike Burdi of Metro Ontario Inc. in Toronto and Elaine Fong of Calgary Co-op are among the 25 winners.

Dr. Ian Potter has been named the new CEO of the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, effective April 1, 2019.  He comes from senior leadership roles with the National Research Council (NRC) and Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF).

Fifteen volunteers have been named to the Ontario agriculture minister’s advisory group, including representatives for apples, grapes and tomatoes. Chris Van de Laar, the 2019 Grape King, is one of those volunteers.

Nova Scotian apple grower Lisa Jenereaux has taken on the role of president of the International Fruit Tree Association for the next two years. She’s supported by her family operation, Spurr Bros., based at Melvern Square.