 Monthly Report
December 2009 |
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The AIC Acting President, Doug Yungblut, the Board of Directors and staff wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and prosperity and good health in 2010.
The AIC office will be closed at noon on December 24 and will reopen on January 4, 2009. We look forward to working with you in the coming year. | |
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2010 Membership Renewals
As we continue our work on your behalf to build AIC as the Unifying Voice of agriculture and the related sciences, your support is vital.
If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes to renew your AIC membership for 2010. Membership fees remain at $125 and renewal online is quick and easy with a credit card. |
Introducing the AIC 2009-2010 Board of Directors
The AIC Annual General Meeting took place by conference call on December 4, 2009. Thank you to all members who participated in the call. The minutes of the meeting are available in the members only section of the AIC website.
 
Sincere appreciation is extended to Susan Simpson and Graham Gilchrist who are retiring from the Board after four years of dedicated service. Graham served as President in 2007-08 and Susan in 2008-09. We are grateful to both for their commitment to rebuilding AIC. Thank you Susan and Graham!
We welcome back Digvir Jayas to the AIC Board of Directors, as well as Dale Kelly, who is a previous Board member and an AIC Past President. Continuing Board members include Glenn Dickson (LaSalle, Manitoba), Ross Purdy (Sylvan Lake, Alberta), John Stewart (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Doug Yungblut (Mississauga, Ontario).
We are also pleased to welcome two new Board members:
Georgina Knitel, MBA, PAg (Lethbridge, Alberta) is founder and President of Ag Plan Inc, which provides transition and succession strategies to agri-businesses. Previously she held management positions with CIBC and in the broadcasting industry. She also mediates for the Provincial Civil Court in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. Georgina holds an MBA in Agriculture from the University of Guelph and is a professional agrologist.
 Scott Wright, PhD, PAg (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is Director of the Applied Technology Division of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Agri-Environment Services Branch on Interagency Agreement from the University of Saskatchewan. In addition to a 13-year science career in forage crops with Agriculture Canada, he has held leadership roles with the University of Saskatchewan and the Alberta and Saskatchewan provincial governments.
The formal election of the AIC President will take place during the Board of Director's next meeting in January 2010. Until that time Doug Yungblut will serve as Acting President. For more information on the AIC Board members, visit the AIC website. |
Food and Fuel from Agri-Resources Workshop
AIC's overarching objective is to help build scientific capacity and understanding required to get more for less from our agricultural resources. And to do so in a sustainable and profitable way. "Sustainable" includes economic, social and environmental objectives, all three of which must be met. Clearly we need to support inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral collaboration to make progress in enhancing productivity all along the food and bio-energy value chains. To that end, AIC organized a workshop in Calgary on December 4, 2009. It followed a very successful Grow Canada conference, whose theme also was employing science for the sustainable use of agriculture, but with an emphasis on one challenge: food security. The purpose of the AIC workshop was to provide AIC members with an opportunity to meet with colleagues who shared an interest in making the best use of the sustainable resource to meet two needs: food and fuel. Interestingly, only 4 of the 36 participants were AIC members. Those who attended came from along the knowledge chains in food and bio-fuels and along the food and energy value chains. Their professional backgrounds were equally diverse: city planners, engineers, pesticide specialists, beef producers, and university faculty. They shared a common interest in the challenges and opportunities for harnessing agriculture's potential to produce food and fuel. The workshop ended with the presenters and participants engaging in a lively discussion on funding for research and commercial or public institutions to strengthen Canada's agri-industry by providing high-performing crop varieties to producers and processors. Did the workshop add value to the ongoing effort to make the best use of the agri-resource base? Did participants leave better equipped to find solutions to producing more food and fuel and doing so in a sustainable and profitable way? The response of participants was a resounding "Yes," followed by encouragement for AIC to hold more workshops across the country on similar topics pertaining to the multiple societal demands to which agriculture can respond. To read a full report on the workshop, click here. Myles Frosst
CEO
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Gender Equality Mainstreaming Update
AIC's gender equality mainstreaming program is wrapping up a very productive year and looking forward to continued growth in 2010.
Scientific Journals
Tom Beach, AIC's International Program Coordinator, made a presentation to the Scientific Journals Committee (SJC) on AIC's gender equality mainstreaming work at their meeting in Ottawa on November 13. In early 2010 a working group of the SJC and AIC staff will begin discussions on gender equality in the context of the journals. The initial focus will be on gathering input, background information and data on gender and the scientific journals. The results of the initial analysis will then guide the next steps of exploring and addressing concerns and opportunities with a broad section of people involved in the scientific journals, including researchers, editors, production staff and others. International Program
 AIC international program representatives Tom Beach, Dinah Ceplis and Derek Lynch travelled to Nepal earlier this month to investigate the potential for a project with the Sustainable Agriculture Development Program - Nepal. An account of the trip will appear in the January 2010 Monthly Report. During the trip they met with a number of organizations (NGOs and INGOs), all including a focus on gender equality:
- Shtrii Shakti, a women's organization working on empowerment of women, youth and men in Nepal, focuses on training, research, information and documentation, and intervention.
- In its gender programming, USC-Canada Asia has a focus on working with women in minor crops and seed diversity.
- Rural Empowerment Society of Damauli, Tanahun, Nepal includes a focus on technology promotion and environmental management through its energy efficient activities including micro-hydro, solar energy home systems, bio-gas plants, and improved cooking stoves.
- LI-BIRD Nepal considers "gender issues, equity, the inclusion of socially marginalised and vulnerable groups, and the right of resource-poor farmers to inputs and services of agricultural production" as an integral part of its programmes.
- LEAD-Nepal prioritizes women, children and indigenous people in the development of communities.
GEM of the Month
The AIC "GEM of the Month" is a new resource prepared by AIC GE Program Officer, Dinah Ceplis. Articles gleaned from a variety of sources each month are combined in a newsletter format for distribution to AIC's Gender Equality Mainstreaming working group members. The newsletter is also available on the AIC website. The December GEM of the Month includes links to a number of recent gender and climate change articles and resources. Some of the links to the webcasts are time bound, while others should endure for a few weeks. AIC members who have information or articles to share about gender equality mainstreaming within organizations, gender and climate change, or gender equality and agricultural/rural development, are encouraged to send them to Dinah Ceplis for inclusion in the newsletter.
Photo of Govardhan Sharma Memorial Trust demo garden, Nepal, courtesy Dinah Ceplis.
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Award Nominations - It's Not Too Late!
Nominations for AIC's 2009 awards can be made up to December 31, 2009. We welcome nominations for our AIC Fellowship, Sustainable Futures or International Recognition Awards. Visit the awards web page for more information.
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| Remembering George Atkins
 Retired CBC farm broadcaster George Atkins, a founder of what's now Farm Radio International, died November 30, 2009 in Wiarton, Ontario. Atkins, who grew up on a family farm near Oakville, Ontario, operated a small farm after graduating from the Ontario Agricultural College and went to work in agricultural broadcasting, first at CHCH-TV in Hamilton and then, in 1955, at CBC Radio. According to Farm Radio International, Atkins was travelling in Zambia by bus in 1975 as part of a workshop event for the Commonwealth Broadcasters' Association, when he and two other ag journalists first considered the idea of a worldwide exchange of practical farm information. In 1979, the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network began delivering packages of scripts to 34 broadcasters in 26 countries. The later-renamed Farm Radio International marks its 30th anniversary in operation this year. Over 250 participating radio partners in over 35 African countries now help gather and share practical information for farmers, the organization said. George Atkins was named a Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada in 1980 and received the AIC International Recognition Award in 1993. Sources: Country Guide, December 1, 2009; AIC Annual Reports 1980 and 1993
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Agricultural Institute of Canada
9 Corvus Court
Ottawa, Ontario K2E 7Z4
613.232.9459 / 1.888.277.7980
www.aic.ca
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